Hunters were delighted to sponsor a table at the prestigious Bessemer Society 10th Anniversary Dinner in the immaculately renovated Skinners Hall.
David Wilson made a brief address on some of the challenges facing early-stage growth businesses.
Here is a summary of the points he covered:
- The conundrum facing start-ups is the need to get their structures right, ensure regulatory compliance, and protect their IP, whilst not having the ‘legal dollars’ to pay for it. This is where legal incubators step in. Hunters’ legal incubator, developed with various university start up and entrepreneur society’s (‘Tech Labs’), offers a ‘carry’ through to first financial close, for businesses that meet our eligibility criteria. This has been incredibly well received and is establishing itself in the market.
- Moving on to early-stage funding rounds, ‘seed’ or ‘Series A’, the critical issue for investee companies is the institutional bias all too apparent in standard or what has become generally accepted as ‘market’ best practice documentation. These are skewed against founders, and their businesses. Founders need lawyers who are prepared to push back against this bias, and ensure a better balance in the investment documents. Hunters unashamedly lean in on the side of the investee company and their founders.
- Finally, the AIM market. A fully functioning junior market is essential for a growth economy, and the UK does not have that at the moment. An IPO on a lower cost junior market is not just an exit opportunity, but should be there as an option for later stage growth finance (scale-up capital). AIM is not currently providing that, and needs reform to reestablish its competitiveness. Hunters are working, with others, to try and drive through the changes that are necessary so that the AIM market can once more be Europe’s primary destination for ambitious growth companies looking to IPO.
David was accompanied by Rory Wilson and Sam Young at the dinner.