Venture capitalists Connect with technology firms
A COMPANY producing a ‘Lego kit’ for cell biologists, a firm wanting to manufacture luxury motor yachts in Hull and a healthcare business that has devised a system that monitors patients via GSM were among the Yorkshire companies pitching for investment to venture capitalists at the latest Connect Yorkshire Investment Forum.
The event, held at York Racecourse, saw representatives of venture capital firms in London, Scotland, Birmingham and Oxford including MMC, Scottish Equity Partners, Advent Venture Partners and Catapult attending to look for investment opportunities.
The event also saw David Aldridge, vice president of US software giant Oracle, speak at the TechTalk 2009 afternoon session and then join a panel discussion with Lee Strafford, director of The Netstart and founder of internet service provider PlusNet and the chairman of football club Sheffield Wednesday; entrepreneur Mike Briercliffe, owner of Briercliffe Associates and Chris Neale, head of operations at The Ultimate People Company.
Mr Aldridge said that Oracle, which is acquiring US hardware business Sun, is seeing growth in business from medium sized firms despite the economic downturn.
The panel discussion focussed on issues including cloud computing and how it is developing and how well it can work as well as how established industry giants such as Microsoft can respond to the challenge of newer players such as Google.
To see a short video report of the event, click the screen below.
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David Parkin, Editor of TheBusinessDesk.com, chaired the panel discussion.
Connect Yorkshire’s Investment Forum event was sponsored by Business Link and Science City York.
Connect Yorkshire, which is backed by 30 private sector partners, helps technology firms raise funds for growth and has helped more than 200 companies raise £29m in international investment over the last six years.
