New funds announced; How to hold on to your social mission; 200K + in grants
For founders seeking the best alternatives to VC
Greetings from London! I’m Esme, the founder of Considered Capital. This is the 21st issue of The Considered Club - a bi-weekly newsletter for founders seeking the best alternatives to VC. Welcome to the 68 people who signed up this week. The most clicked post from our last issue was from the Pioneers Post on Kate Raworth. If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read today subscribe today!
This week marks the half way point for our fourth cohort of the Alternative Funding School. It’s so heartening to see all our brilliant founders be so exceptionally thoughtful, engaged and interactive.
I'm also so thankful to our brilliant speakers this week that came and engaged with our founders including Calm Company Fund, D2, Chisos and Horizon VC. Alternative Funding can be complex but they really helped us understand how each funding vehicle works and how entrepreneurs can access them. We’ve already had founders apply for funding straight off the back of the session. 👏
MONEY
Find grants, upcoming accelerators, pitch competitions, & more!
Grants
Community Business Trade Up Programme | awards up to £5,000 Match Trading grant for ‘early stage’ community businesses in England
The FemAging Era | grants of $10K for founders focused on innovations relevant to women ages 40+
Awards & Prizes
EU Prize for Women Innovators | awards three prizes of €100,000 to the most inspiring women innovators across the EU and associated countries
Cartier Women’s Initiative | join a global community of impact entrepreneurs and experts, and benefit from financial, social, and human capital support
Accelerators
The Libra 2.0 programme | a six-month programme of support for companies with at least one ethnic minority founder
Rocket up | a three-month programme for women-led startups to scale their business internationally
Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator | a programme of support plus loans of $25k to $250k for Black, brown, and women early-stage startups
The Tech For Good Programme | £30k investment for 7% equity and three months of intensive learning
New Funds Announced
Big Issue and Unltd announced a new social investment fund designed by and for Underrepresented founders this week. It’s a £25 million fund offering flexible patient capital (equity, debt & revenue based) and end to end support for UK companies working on consumer business, employment and training, education and learning, and health and social care.
This is exciting news for UK-based founders looking for patient, flexible social investment. Read about the Growth Impact Fund here.
Insights
Tyler Tringas | explains why Calm Company Fund doesn’t put founders on a unicorn or bust path
Juho Makkonen | shares how steward ownership ensures that profits will always simply be a means to achieve Sharetribe’s social mission
Sifted | here’s how Mentimeter used a $500k angel investment to build a large profitable company making more than €20m in annual revenue in 2021
Incase you missed it
If you’re new here, catch up on our most recent post
Thanks for reading. See you in two weeks.
Esme
Founder, Considered Capital
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