Hotbed

We speak to Hotbed, one of the UK's largest investor networks

Growing Business

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Who are you?

Gary Robins, co-founder of Hotbed.

What do you do?

We provide investors with evaluated business opportunities where all the due diligence has been done and assist them in building a portfolio of investments. Each investment is broken down into £25,000 units. We know there are a lot of potential investors out there who don’t have the time to research opportunities themselves, so we offer a service on a plate with preand post-investment reports.

Why should I care?

Because we have 400 members with an average available liquidity of £500,000 to £3m and have matched 33 deals worth £47m in growing businesses since we launched in 2002.

What problem do you think i have that you can solve?

If you’re growing, lack of capital is a restraint and companies like yours aren’t exactly spoilt for choice. There’s a big gap for private companies looking to raise £1m to £3m of equity. Companies like yours are often too big for angel funding and too small for venture capital. We offer long-term funding solutions in that gap, which you can come back to for second and third rounds. Our members are usually very experienced, well-known and knowledgeable about specific sectors and often offer to assist at board level if making a significant investment.

Why should I trust you?

Firstly, because we’re regulated and authorised and have to abide by stringent standards. Secondly, because you’ll be dealing with individuals with a lot of investment experience and, as a result, they know what they’re doing. HOW WELL

Do you know me? Discribe me in three words

Entrepreneurial, creative, driven.

Give me an example of a company like min that you've helped.

One company we worked with was a group of care homes, which had done well to reach the point it had, but was being restricted by only being able to buy leasehold properties, when to make real money it needed to be acquiring freehold properties. We put together a £15m package which included bank finance and so lifted its growth constraint.

Which entrepreneur do you most respect?

Sir Martin Sorrell for turning a tiny PR firm into a global leader. I actually sold him his first acquisition, a small advertising company in Oxford. When we met I could tell he was a highly skilled individual and brilliant communicator who was going to do something big.