Member Article

Private Equity Club completes first investment

A private equity club with 32 members, all wealthy entrepreneurs with substantial business experience and capital available to invest in supporting and funding growing businesses, has just completed its first investment.

Bristol Private Equity Club (BPEC), founded by six influential and successful entrepreneurs in May 2016, has provided £425,000 of investment capital and a non-executive board director for tech start-up YellowDog Limited.

Based in Bristol, YellowDog is one of the South West’s hottest start-ups recently winning an Oracle award for innovation in cloud computing. Within 18 months the company has gone from incorporation to having some of the world’s leading architecture and animation companies on its books.

YellowDog Founder and Managing Director Gareth Williams, said: “I’m delighted that YellowDog has the support of the Bristol Private Equity Club. Not only their investment but their wealth of experience will really help YellowDog accelerate its growth over the coming months and years as we prepare for expansion into new sectors.”

Jerry Barnes, one of the founders of Bristol Private Equity Club said, “YellowDog are an excellent example of the type of business that we can help. They are at the forefront of their game, have developed technology which is much in demand, need support to get to the next level and importantly they are local to Bristol and Bath. Our investment will help YellowDog to deliver their business plan and achieve their ambitious growth plans by extending the usage and finding new market opportunities for the computer processing power they have at their disposal.

“We formed BPEC earlier this year to fill the missing gap that often exists in funding local businesses. The Greater Bristol area is well placed with a number of business angels and start-up support organisations through to the incubators set up by local universities. More established businesses may be able to get access to investment from Venture Capital funds and possibly banks too, if they can provide security. But those who have only a few years’ experience and not grown large enough to be of interest to Venture Capitalists are quite likely to need a different type and source of investment and business support.

“We are a club of like-minded individuals with a very broad range of skills. Our members are based locally and aim to support perhaps three or four businesses a year. I was involved in a similar club in London which was very successful, but there are so many exciting prospects in Bristol that it made sense to start our own club here.

“We are looking to provide from £100,000 to £500,000 of equity funding for each business opportunity we invest in. Our members individually decide on a case by case basis and we have experts in just about every field ready and willing to help good management teams with a sensible plan and ambition to grow successful businesses.

“We are an excellent alternative to those businesses who otherwise might be looking for support from relatives or friends, which can sometimes be fraught with problems, or through crowdfunding, which comes with the potential disadvantage of having too many interested parties and shareholders.”

Jerry Barnes, who has 35 years’ experience advising some of the UK’s wealthiest people founded the club, which now has 32 members. Other founders include Allan Rosengren and Julian Telling, who established the Falcon Group Plc in Bristol and have a wealth of experience as entrepreneurs, innovators and investors in many businesses, including in financial services, investment platforms and networks, consumer finance, technology, food & beverage, restaurants, aviation, student lets and property development.

Mark Mason, a serial IT entrepreneur, who founded the highly successful app developer Mubaloo in Bristol is also a founding member of BPEC as is solicitor Charles Cook and accountant Denis Mullan, both highly entrepreneurial professionals, who have been involved with the club since its inception and are instrumental in performing the detailed due diligence on the investment opportunities considered by the club.

As well as access to investment finance, the club also provides a wealth of experience and decades of business know-how for entrepreneurs, which can be just as valuable as the equity investment offered.

Established business figures meet socially as part of the club on a fairly regular basis to consider potential investments.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clarke Willmott .