Deadline:
As soon as possible
Location(s)
United Kingdom Worldwide
Hackney Community College, Shoreditch, London.
Overview
Emerge Education supports you from pre-seed through to 100k MRR and your Series A. That might take 1 year, 3 years or 5 years but it is our intent to be there with you on this journey, helping where needed each and every month. That help will come in two forms: 1) access to expertise on scaling startups, and 2) access to a network of potential customers, partners and investors. We have built up this expertise and network through years of focusing on investment in education companies.
Details
You will kick off with a 2-day CEO foundation retreat, which is the only compulsory part of our services. This will give us a chance to get to know each other and agree a set of bespoke goals for your company, as well as introduce you to our network to give you a flying start. From that point on, you will have access to an ongoing series of bootcamps (from fundraising to pitching to hiring), webinars (on subjects such as sales for schools or universities, impact assessment, or user testing) and opportunities to interact with key decision-makers and other entrepreneurs (for example, through our HE and K12 advisory boards, investor showcases, or conferences).
You will choose which elements are most relevant to you in year 1 and can come back in future years as your team grows. Every quarter, we get in touch to find out what you are focused on achieving right now and work alongside you to help you get there. Each month, we will look to provide you with valuable opportunities, whether through new contacts, specific advice, or help with fundraising.
As an Emerge company you can expect an annual schedule of events and interactions with the Emerge team, with as much access to it in three years from now as on the day of investment. These will include bootcamps on specific topics, webinars, regular coaching from our Venture Partners and, most importantly, opportunities to connect with our network. We aim to provide you with a continuous stream of value to benefit from as and when you need it, for as long as you need it.
To give you an idea, in 2018 we hosted 10+ events to introduce our startups to our network, made hundreds of direct introductions to schools, universities, publishers and investors for our companies, and ran 20+ workshops and 250+ one-to-one coaching sessions. In 2019, we are focusing even more on providing all of our 50+ portfolio companies with opportunities to connect with key decision-makers in their industries.
60% of startups in our portfolio are based outside of the UK. Some have set up shop here, whilst others visit us on a regular basis.
We invest into companies from prototype stage when they have only a handful of customers, all the way through to those generating £50k MRR. Most companies have validated their solution, present good engagement metrics and can demonstrate good customer demand. The average startup has raised £250k upon working with Emerge Education and turn over around £20k per month. It is unlikely we will invest at a valuation over £5m.
Contact
Email lucy@emerge.education if you have any further questions.
Opportunity is About
Eligibility
Candidates should be from:
Description of Ideal Candidate
- We initially look at the strength of the team, the power of the idea and the level of engagement to date. We then examine the company's potential to achieve rapid growth. In our experience, these kinds of companies adopt one of two general business models: building network effects and content unbundling.
- Content unbundling: these companies create value by moving beyond the 'one size fits all' model, enabling consumers or employers to access education in a modular way. Technology makes it possible to deliver this education at scale with consistent quality. These companies sustain value by building trusted education brands that become household names in certain niche categories.
- Network effects: these companies create value by digitising core processes in teaching, learning, and their administration. They maintain that value by building large networks of interdependent users and content suppliers and by building large, valuable data sets about those users. Once at scale, these networks and data sets make such companies extremely difficult to displace.
- We evaluate each team on six key criteria:
> Startup or enterprise experience
> Level of customer empathy
> Ability to reach customers
> Ability to build the technology
> Experience of working together as a team
> Whether they are both open-minded and determined - The average Emerge Education company has raised £250k by the time we partner with them. However, we have invested both in companies that have raised more and ones with no prior funding. Raising capital is not a pre-requisite for entry into the programme.
- We do not fund non-profit organisations
- While we don’t provide visas, we are an official endorser of the Tier 1 Entrepreneur Visa.
- If you have not already incorporated your company, we recommend that you wait to do so because it’s easier to start with our standard paperwork.
- We have a preference for investing in UK companies because of the SEIS and EIS tax incentive scheme. It will be easier for you to raise capital in the UK if you are SEIS- or EIS-eligible, as it widens the pool of potential investors. It’s easy for foreign nationals to start UK companies (much easier than remaining here physically), and investors and acquirers prefer them.
If you already have an existing non-UK company, there are options to create a UK Top CO
Dates
Deadline: As soon as possible
Cost/funding for participants
- We make initial investments of between £50k and £200k into startups with the potential to get to £100k MRR in 12 to 18 months.
- For your first month you will have 3 free desks here at Edspace, the UK’s hub for innovation in education.
- We act as a bridge between you and universities, schools, and corporates. As their guides to edtech, we can help you have meaningful interactions with decision-makers that matter.
- With a portfolio of 50 edtech startups, we are not only the most active but also the most knowledgeable investor in this sector. We know which strategies, tactics and people you need to succeed.
Un-save Opportunity
Internships, scholarships, student conferences and competitions.
