2019 saw a shape-shift at many points across the innovation and investment spectrum, and the year
ahead already looks to be moving toward more of the same. In the world of fledgling enterprise it can be difficult to meet the costs of getting established in a financial centre such as London, and equally difficult to attract funding for growth if you’re not present and visible in such a centre. Investment houses have become increasingly savvy to this, however. So where will this lead us in 2020?

In our VC network we have seen an increasing emergence of region-specific funds, with a focus on taking money and business expertise outside of London and delivering it to entrepreneurs beyond the borders of the ‘Silicon Roundabout’. A case-in-point is a newly launched East-England fund with £100 million ring-fenced for management teams of proven, growing businesses who can demonstrate a road-map of impressive milestones ahead of them. The fund is structured on a patient capital basis to allow those milestones to be fostered and developed to their greatest potential, without the pressure of a defined short-term return-of-capital, and without the need for the business and its team members (often with families and other local responsibilities) to relocate to London. This is an impressive step in the right direction in our opinion.

On the same token, founders of young businesses aren’t necessarily making a bee-line for London in the new decade, and they don’t always see value in giving away a controlling stake early on if they can raise funds from their existing network – or if they can boot strap the old fashioned way and recycle profits into their growth ambitions. With an increasing number of quality, invest-able businesses exploring these other avenues for funding it has led firms like ours to put more focus on the benefits
of keeping businesses local. And this shift toward regional fund allocation is a positive off-shoot of this.

The title of this article reminds us that it’s not always about money, though. Just as pertinent in a decade that could shape up to be one of greater awareness is the focus on social impact investing. And one of these caught our attention this month. Great strides have been taken by the Trillion Trees Campaign (previously the Billion Trees Campaign until they blitzed through that target), a planet-focused tree planting programme that recently published startling evidence from ETH Zurich University showing that the effects of a decade’s worth of carbon emissions could broadly be reversed if the target number of trees are planted across the world. That number, one trillion. As Axial Capital continues into 2020 with a focus on companies and entrepreneurs that are looking for growth capital and strategic investment guidance, we will also remain conscious of investment choices in our new world.

The title of this article reminds us that it’s not always about money, though. Just as pertinent in a decade that could shape up to be one of greater awareness is the focus on social impact investing. And one of these caught our attention this month. Great strides have been taken by the Trillion Trees Campaign (previously the Billion Trees Campaign until they blitzed through that target), a planet-focused tree planting programme that recently published startling evidence from ETH Zurich University showing that the effects of a decade’s worth of carbon emissions could broadly be reversed if the target number of trees are planted across the world. That number, one trillion. As Axial Capital continues into 2020 with a focus on companies and entrepreneurs that are looking for growth capital and strategic investment guidance, we will also remain conscious of investment choices in our new world.