2022 has been a busy (and extremely rewarding!) year for Vantage.
Since our launch back in March, we’ve built a thriving community of like-minded founders and equipped them with the tools they need to shine in front of investors.
It’s been an incredible journey so far, and what better way to celebrate the year we’ve had and the community we’ve built than an end of year review?
So, here’s a little summary of what we’ve gotten up to this year.
The birth of Vantage and our Female Founder Growth Series
Vantage was created with the goal of helping start-ups in the UK grow and scale without diluting their equity.
We decided the best way to do this was to host programmes targeting their wants and needs as founders seeking investment.
This journey began back in Spring with a Female Founder Growth Series designed to address the gender funding gap and the lack of female representation within entrepreneurship.
The programme covered an array of topics intended to get participants 'investor-ready', including ‘Navigating the world of fundraising’, ‘Conducting market research’, ‘Perfecting your presentation skills’, and ‘All things legal’.
Through a mix of discussion-based and practical sessions, the founders were able to sharpen their skillset and become experts on all things business growth. After seven weeks of interactive workshops, it was time for the grand finale: the pitch night.
Here, a select number of founders from the programme were given the opportunity to present their new and improved pitch to a room of fellow cohort members, investors, and more!
It was an invaluable networking opportunity, giving the founders a chance to gain feedback from experts in their fields. But it also marked the start of something bigger - a flourishing community of founders was beginning to develop, supporting each other as they embarked on their entrepreneurial journeys.
Since then, the community has expanded rapidly, especially after we ran our second Female Founder Growth Series.
Like the first FFGS, the six-week programme covered all the necessary topics female founders needed to bridge that funding gap and attract investment. Thanks the incredible guest speakers and workshop hosts that contributed to the programme, it went better than we could have ever imagined!
Four fantastic founders pitched their businesses to cohort members, experienced founders, investors, and fundraising experts at the showcase evening - utilising everything they learnt over the course of the programme.
We knew how important it was to maintain strong connections with our Vantage alumni beyond the programme's duration. To do this, we created our Female Founder Showcase: a series dedicated to platforming the incredible and innovative work of the female founders in our community.
It's been a great way to build strong relationships within the community and keep everyone updated on the achievements of their fellow founders. So far, we've done five Showcase pieces, and look forward to doing many more in the future!
"A great opportunity to meet like-minded female entrepreneurs. Well worth getting involved!"
- Debbie Harris, FFGS Autumn '22 Cohort
Moving into the MedTech sphere...
After running two successful Female Founder programmes, we decided it was time to switch it up. That's why we created our MedTech Growth Series, designed to showcase the latest innovations in the healthcare industry.
Much like our Female Founder programme, the MedTech Growth Series was specially curated to help healthcare-related businesses seek investment.
We chose topics related to all things MedTech and business growth: 'Understanding the MedTech Landscape', 'Understanding IP', 'Legal 101 for Startups', 'Communications and PR Strategy', and 'All things Data'.
With the help of VCs and experts in the field of HealthTech, the cohort members refined their existing skills and became fundraising experts.
Naturally, the programme ended with a pitch night, showcasing some of the founders that are shaking up the MedTech landscape and contributing to the evolution of healthcare. All of our showcase evenings were held at London's iconic 22 Bishopsgate, courtesy of XCHG Spaces - who we can't thank enough!
The founders were able to network with HealthTech experts and gain invaluable advice from more experienced founders. The quality of the pitches showed how far the founders had come from the beginning of the programme, and reminded us just how valuable programmes like these are for burgeoning entrepreneurs.
"Vantage is an awesome programme. It really helped us at Kitt Medical network with other entrepreneurs in the Medtech Space and learn from interesting people and businesses!"
- Zak Marks, MedTech Autumn '22 Cohort
Watching the Vantage community grow over the past year has been amazing. What started as a small idea to help start-ups has grown further than we could ever have imagined.
The continued enthusiasm from all of the participating founders is what made these Growth Series so special - we can't wait to host bigger, more frequent, and more diverse Growth Series and events next year.
It was great to watch the founders develop their skills over the course of the programme, but it's been even better to see what they've achieved since. We share all of our alumni achievements on LinkedIn, so be sure to follow us there to keep up with what the Vantage community are doing!
We'd like to extend a massive thank you to all of our partners, sponsors, and anyone who has joined the Vantage community in any capacity this year. Without all of you, none of what we achieved would have been possible.
If you’re interested in joining the growing Vantage community, sign up for our waitlist, and keep an eye out on our social media for some big announcements coming very soon.
Bring on 2023!