Quarterly Investment Briefing Pitch Deck Teardown

Quarterly Investment Briefing: Regional Ecosystem Analysis

The Q2 2019 Quarterly Investment Briefing (QIB) is not a traditional startup pitch deck but rather a comprehensive ecosystem report designed to inform and connect the investment community in the West of England. Produced through a partnership between Engine Shed, Smith & Williamson, TLT, and KPMG, the deck provides a data-driven look at the health of the Bristol and Bath regional economy. It serves as a vital tool for understanding how regional capital, innovation-driven entrepreneurship, and institutional investment intersect in one of the UK's most vibrant tech hubs.

Slides 1-6: Regional Capital and Collaborative Impact

The deck opens with a clear identification of the region, featuring a map of the four constituent councils: South Gloucestershire, Bristol City, North Somerset, and Bath & North East Somerset (Slide 2). This geographic grounding is essential for a regional briefing. Ed Rowberry of Bristol and Bath Regional Capital (BBRC) introduces the organization's mission (Slide 3). The 'Story so far' slide (Slide 4) uses visual renderings of community projects, including housing and sports facilities, to demonstrate tangible regional development.

Slide 5, titled 'Collaborative Impact,' is perhaps the most strategic in this section. It outlines a model where a regional investment fund is linked to city priorities, acting as a single point of contact for five key groups: Communities, Council, Investors, Business, and Foundations. This emphasizes that regional growth is not just about financial returns but about social and environmental impact. The investment strategy is summarized in three words on Slide 6: Additional, Collaborative, and Transformative, setting the tone for the data that follows.

Slides 7-11: Building the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

Tom Bridges, Director of Cities Advisory at Arup, presents a section on building an ecosystem for innovation-driven entrepreneurship (Slide 7). This section challenges the 'old mindset' of the lone inventor (symbolized by a lightbulb and Richard Branson on Slide 8) and advocates for a more connected approach. Slide 9 provides a concrete example of this connection through NorthInvest, a not-for-profit that has facilitated 118 investor introductions and raised over £1m for northern startups. This serves as a benchmark for what the West of England aims to achieve.

Slide 10 introduces a framework for 'Testing and experimentation tools,' categorizing environments from controlled laboratories to real-world 'Living Labs' and 'Sandboxes.' This theoretical framework is important for founders and investors to understand where different types of innovation fit within the development cycle. The section concludes with a 'Thank You' and a list of further resources, including links to the Leeds Growth Strategy and MIT's REAP program, indicating that the regional strategy is informed by global best practices (Slide 11).

Slides 12-17: Market Trends and Regional Performance

The briefing then shifts to a more traditional financial analysis, introduced by Shaw & Co (Slide 12). They define their role in supporting ScaleUp equity investment, Debt solutions, and M&A exits (Slide 13). Slide 14 presents a critical piece of market data: UK VC deals from 2012 to Q1 2019. While capital invested remains robust, the number of deals closed has significantly declined since 2017, leading to the conclusion that 'institutions are investing later.' This is a vital insight for early-stage founders who may find the seed and Series A landscape more challenging.

Slide 15 highlights Bristol's global competitiveness. It showcases Graphcore's £200m raise (ranked #1 in Europe in Q4 2018) and OVO Energy's £282m raise (ranked #2 in Europe in Q1 2019). These figures prove that the region can produce 'unicorns' and attract massive international capital. Slide 16 reinforces the UK's dominance in AI, with £800m raised in 2018—double that of France and Germany combined. The M&A outlook (Slide 17) provides a balanced view, noting a 17% dip in global deal volumes but highlighting that the UK remains a top target for US buyers.

Slides 18-21: The Beauhurst Data Deep Dive

The final data section utilizes research from Beauhurst to quantify the region's growth. Slide 18 notes that there are 359 equity-backed 'high growth businesses' in the West of England. Slide 19 lists the top companies by total amount raised, with OVO Energy (£259m) and Graphcore (£244m) leading the pack, followed by TrueSpeed (£75.2m) and Ultrahaptics (£74.4m). This list provides a 'who's who' of the regional tech scene.

Slide 20 identifies the top investors by total deal value since 2011. The presence of global names like Sequoia Capital (£197m), Atomico (£220m), and Dell Technologies Capital (£220m) alongside UK-based firms like Amadeus Capital Partners (£296m) and Draper Esprit (£279m) demonstrates the maturity of the ecosystem. Finally, Slide 21 breaks down the 'Triggers of growth,' showing that 1,015 companies have raised equity, 376 received grants, and 69 spun out of universities, providing a clear picture of the region's innovation pipeline.

Slide 22: The Q2 2019 Raising Cohort

The deck concludes with a practical 'Ask' slide, listing ten companies currently seeking investment (Slide 22). The funding requirements range from £250k to £400k, representing the early-stage pipeline that will eventually feed into the larger deal statistics shown earlier. The companies include:

Codices: £400k for live interactive gameshow tools. · MiHeart: £350k for mobile e-health management. · Watmuff & Beckett: £330k for a profitable soup and risotto company. · iExport: £300k for a SaaS exporting platform. · LUX Rewards: £300k for a fine dining rewards app. · Helm Tickets: £300k for a global self-service ticketing platform. · Sigma Polaris: £250k for HR talent assessment software. · GoodSixty: £250k for an online marketplace for artisan producers. · Lambda Stretch: £250k for solar panel efficiency coatings.

This slide is the most actionable part of the deck for the investors in the room, providing a direct link between the high-level ecosystem data and specific investment opportunities.

What Works in This Deck

The strength of this deck lies in its collaborative authority . By bringing together a law firm (TLT), an accounting firm (Smith & Williamson), a 'Big Four' consultancy (KPMG), and a regional innovation hub (Engine Shed), the briefing carries significant weight. The use of third-party data from Beauhurst and Arup adds an objective layer that a single-company pitch often lacks. Furthermore, the geographic specificity is a major plus; it doesn't just talk about 'tech,' it talks about 'Bristol and Bath tech,' making it highly relevant to the local audience. The inclusion of specific deal sizes and company names in the final cohort slide transforms the presentation from a theoretical exercise into a practical deal-flow tool.

What Is Missing

While the deck is excellent as a regional overview, it lacks longitudinal comparisons in some areas. For example, while Slide 14 shows a multi-year trend for UK VC deals, the regional data from Beauhurst (Slides 18-21) is largely a snapshot in time. It would be beneficial to see how the number of 'high growth businesses' in the West of England has changed year-over-year. Additionally, there is no mention of exit data beyond a general M&A outlook. Knowing which regional companies have successfully exited, and at what valuations, would provide a more complete picture of the investment lifecycle. Finally, the deck omits diversity and inclusion metrics , which are increasingly important for both social impact and financial performance in modern ecosystems.

What a Founder Should Copy

Founders can learn a great deal from the data visualization in this deck. Slide 16, which uses concentric circles to show the UK's dominance in AI fundraising, is a masterclass in simple, impactful messaging. The use of logos and rankings on Slide 15 is also highly effective; it immediately establishes credibility by benchmarking local success against a European context. Founders should also take note of the 'Collaborative Impact' model on Slide 5. Even if you are a for-profit startup, showing how your business interacts with and benefits different stakeholders (customers, community, environment) is a powerful way to build a narrative that goes beyond just 'making money.' Finally, the clear, concise descriptions of the raising companies on Slide 22—one sentence for the product and one for the market—is exactly how founders should describe their businesses in any high-level summary.