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100 investors each with £50k - £3m to give But only 20 companies will get the chance to meet them

Originally Published 13 August 2001

Connect Midlands, managed by the University of Warwick, is to launch a prestigious event that will give just 20 companies from the heart of England the dream opportunity of meeting and pitching their best business propositions to up to 100 investors in a single two-day event.

The Connect Midlands Investment Conference is one of the first of its kind in England and is modelled on the successful 'Connect' events in Scotland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and the US. Connect Midlands has been founded by Warwick Ventures, a department of the University of Warwick, which was created last year to build commercial benefits from the University's many research successes. This exclusive two-day event on 8-9th November will give 20 technology-based companies the rare opportunity to present their ideas and finance requirements to an audience of up to 100 investors each with between £50,000 and £3,000,000 to give.

Any company wishing to be part of the event will be rigorously pre-screened and only the most promising 20 companies will be allowed to pitch their ideas. If a company does not make the grade then they won't make the conference (however, Connect Midlands will be hosting additional workshops and seminars for a wide range of companies to help them develop key skills for future such investment conferences).

At Connect Scotland 19 of the 24 presenting companies received the funding they needed, with the sums secured averaging over a million pounds. Ian McDonald, CEO, Connect Scotland said The Connect Midlands Conference will be "an unmissable date in the diary for any serious investor!".

Connect Midlands has already achieved success through obtaining principal founding sponsorship from the University of Warwick and Advantage West Midlands and founding sponsorship from business advisers Ernst & Young, BT plc, Business Link - Coventry and Warwickshire, Grant Thornton, HSBC plc, Innvotec Ltd, OFEXMedia Ltd, QinetiQ and The Royal Bank of Scotland plc.

Mick Laverty, director of finance and strategy at Advantage West Midlands, said: "Both Connect Midlands & our own Advantage Technology Fund will encourage high technology companies to establish themselves in the market place and create employment opportunities in the region".

For further details please contact:

Isabell Majewsky
Connect Midlands
University of Warwick
Tel: 024 7632 3316
email: i.majewsky@warwick.ac.uk



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Further information about the above press release and all other media services at the University of Warwick can be obtained from:

Peter Dunn, Press Officer
Public Affairs Office
Senate House
University of Warwick
Coventry, CV4 7AL
West Midlands
Tel: 024 76 523708
Email: puapjd@admin.warwick.ac.uk