Verlume are leaders in subsea energy conversion, storage and delivery. They’ve been leading the way and bringing value to their clients since 2013. With a track record of firsts, they consistently deliver world-class projects and services to the energy sector – reinventing the offshore system by decarbonising subsea operations, reducing carbon footprint, and maximising offshore efficiency.
They offer two main areas of technology: energy storage and remote power generation. With products already fully-funded, developed and market ready, their ground-breaking technology provides unlimited potential.
They got involved with this programme because they are raising Series A investment to scale up.
The Programme
Scottish Enterprise is the Scottish Government’s economic and community development agency. We designed this programme of workshops aimed at companies that are seeking higher levels of VC or Corporate investment that are unlikely to be available from Angel investors and may not be available within Scotland.
The purpose of the workshops is to enable management teams seeking to raise £1.5m + investment to engage with VCs in a flexible and professional manner; ensuring they can switch between a formal pitch to conversation and Q&A without losing track of their aim and important points. Engaging with VCs and corporate funders for high level funding is very different from raising funding at earlier stage seed level funding. Therefore, the skills required at this later stage are different.
The workshops help to ensure the management team pitching is ready to engage at give themselves the best chance to secure funding for their company.
I worked with Richard Knox (Managing Director) and Sharon McGinty (Finance Director) over 4 x 90 mins online workshops covering delivery, pitch structure and planning and preparing for questions. We also held a dress rehearsal where we drilled Q&A before they delivered a mock pitch online to a panel of investors.
Results
The programme was a great success. Richard and Sharon delivered a super pitch with really positive feedback and guidance from the panel. They came across really well; the pitch was clear and their slides were simple and clean. They received lots of questions which they handled with ease because of the preparation and practice they had gone through. The company raised £2.5 million a couple of months after the programme.