Ariadne Rounds Out its Investor Membership with Number 50
LONDON – 15 September 2008 - Ariadne Capital (Ariadne),
www.ariadnecapital.com, the investment and advisory firm founded by Julie Meyer to create a platform of entrepreneurs backing the next-generation of entrepreneurs, announces its 50th Investor Member. The founders of AlphaMosaic, BetFair, DX Telecom, Element 14, Giga, Hotmail, SES Astra, SportingBet, WILink, WorldPay, and other internet, media, communications and semiconductor firms have joined Ariadne Capital as Investor Members since 2000 in order to create a new robust model of seed financing in Europe.
Ariadne has secured seed funding for dozens of UK and European entrepreneurs over the past economic cycle, and announces a new 2008 deal with highlights of past successes:
These Ariadne portfolio companies have strong momentum despite the market downturn:
• Ashley Faull backs SquareCash founders
• Andrew Black backs Enrich Social Productions founders
• Nigel Burton backs SpinVox founders
Ashley Faull, who co-founded “Sit-up” which created TV Auction channels Bid TV, Price-drop.TV and Speed Auction.TV, sold to Virgin Media in 2005 for £194 million, backed Louis Yadgaroff, an entrepreneur who had successfully built several pre-paid businesses. When Yagdaroff launched SquareCash in 2008, Faull through Ariadne decided to invest because, “I could see it was a great idea, and felt that his background should enable him to execute well. I believe I’ll be able to add value on the marketing side, on fund-raising and eventually when it comes time to exit.”
Andrew Black, a co-founder of BetFair, met Jonathan Lakin and Julian Hardy, founders of Enrich Social Productions, through Ariadne, and became convinced that their model of interpreting TV formats to the web would be game-changing. He said, “I invest in people ahead of business plans, and the team here give me a good feeling. They clearly know their sector well and they’ve done well in a tough market to get to the point of imminent launch.”
Nigel Burton, CFO of Advanced Power AG, and former investment banker, invested in SpinVox on Ariadne’s recommendation. “SpinVox was not a cheap deal, but the management team is impressive, and has a plan to make money for investors. I knew Ariadne was working with the Spinvox team on several aspects of their Go To Market strategy as well which de-risks the investment proposition for me.”
Julie Meyer, the founder and CEO of Ariadne Capital said, “Entrepreneurs who have been in the hot kitchen which is a start-up, and seen it through hyper-growth to exit are best placed to coach and finance other entrepreneurs who are attempting to build companies. Ariadne brings the best of those who have earned their stripes and works with them to find those who are emerging and make the right match.”
About Ariadne Capital
Ariadne Capital is a London-based investment and advisory firm focused on game changers in the communications, web development, digital media and life services sectors (consumer financial services, e-health, digital home and e-commerce).
Ariadne Capital was founded by Julie Meyer, the Chief Executive who also founded First Tuesday, which ignited the Internet generation across Europe in 1998. Ariadne was early adviser to Espotting, Monitise, Skype, SpinVox and Zopa.
Ariadne’s vision is to back the best entrepreneurs in the market and to build global leaders out of Europe.
Ariadne’s Manifesto is published at this link:
http://www.ariadnecapital.com/entrepreneur_country_manifesto
