The Connect £5m Investment Challenge

Are you an entrepreneur or growing business based in the East Midlands? Then this is your chance to take the challenge, test your investment potential and ultimately stand the chance of gaining a life changing slice of up to £5 million equity investment.

• What is It?
• Who Can Enter?
• How Do I Enter?
• What happens then?
• What are the benefits?

The Connect Midlands £5m Investment Challenge is an exciting opportunity for entrepreneurs and businesses in the East Midlands to test their investment potential using the online Gauntlet tool, gain valuable free feedback, learn how to improve and grow their business, and stand to gain real investment.

It is run by Connect Midlands, sponsored by BT Business, and backed by Catapult Venture Managers Ltd, the East Midlands Early Growth Fund, and Advantage Business Angels. The Challenge is also supported by emda (East Midlands Development Agency) and GINEM (Growth Investment Network East Midlands).

The Connect £5 million Investment Challenge is exclusively for companies and entrepreneurs in the Midlands region. In the East Midlands this includes Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Rutland.

If you are looking to secure funding for your business, want to learn what it takes to attract investors, see what sources of funding are available to you, and stand the chance of gaining a slice of £5 million of investment funding, then the Challenge is for you.

The Challenge is based around The Gauntlet, an online tool that allows you to test your company's investment potential and gain a personal report card scoring your business, before you pitch to investors.

The Gauntlet is a ground-breaking web based assessment tool created by Library House Limited in partnership with the London School of Economics and Political Science. It was developed out of 10,000 hours of research with venture capitalists to identify best practice and to analyse common mistakes made in investment bids.

The tool uses this research and acts like a virtual investor, challenging you to answer the critical questions that investors will ask, testing your business proposal's investment readiness, and benchmarking you against 16 key areas.

The Gauntlet takes approximately 1 hour to complete fully, but you can log in and out as you wish, and complete it over a number of sessions. When completed, you will receive a free personalised report card, benchmarking your proposition and highlighting areas to focus on for improvement.

Your report card will be analysed by Connect Midlands and an expert panel of industry professionals. If you are one of the highest scoring entrants you will be invited to submit a business plan for assessment.

The 20 best entries from across the East Midlands will be given support and guidance, and invited to give a ten minute presentation to a panel of investors and industry professionals. At the presentation, they will be given free and constructive feedback, and may have the chance to receive expert one to one coaching before presenting to the panel for a final time.

The Winners will be those entrants which the assessors judge to be the best overall proposals, and they will be considered for direct investment from the Challenge funds, subject to due diligence.

In addition, high scoring entries may also be considered for inclusion at a Connect Midlands investment platform event such as Connect Springboard, Red Carpet, Round Table or the annual Connect Midlands Investment Conference (CMIC).

Those companies not reaching the score criteria may be given the opportunity to receive free or heavily subsidised Investment Readiness training through the Connect InvoRed programme to improve their Investment proposition.

Summary of benefits to all entrants

• Free use of the online Gauntlet analysis tool, saving you £299
• Free personalised report card, benchmarking you against best practice, highlighting what investors are looking for, and outlining how you measure up.
• Opportunity for free or subsidised Investment Readiness training from Connect Midlands through the InvoRed programme

Additional benefits for the best performing entrants

• Opportunity to submit a business plan and have it analysed and scored by industry professionals
• Chance to present to a panel of professionals and investors and receive constructive feedback on your proposal
• Opportunity for further investment readiness coaching or mentoring
• Stand to gain equity finance of up to £5 million from the Challenge backers - Catapult Venture Managers Ltd, the East Midlands Early Growth Fund, and Advantage Business Angels
• Potential to present at Connect Midlands investment platforms such as Springboard, Red Carpet, Round Table, or the Connect Midlands Investment Conference.

The Challenge timetable