The majority of UK entrepreneurs believe that there is a lack of understanding amongst venture capital circles of entrepreneurship, according to new research from Coutts.  The results of a survey show that UK entrepreneurs are also largely sceptical about the benefits of venture capital and its fit within the entrepreneurial mindset.  While 69% of entrepreneurs believe venture capital investment will deliver faster growth to a business, the majority have doubts about the experience they would go through and the sustainability of that growth.

Borro, the UK’s leading personal asset lender, have announced the launch of ‘Money Making Ideas’, a social media competition open to the nation’s small businesses and entrepreneurs looking to access finance to further develop their business. This is a response to a recent study that shows almost a quarter of SME owners (24%) say they have missed out on a growth opportunity due to a lack of accessible finance.

Venture capital investing is in the midst of a revival and experiencing major changes.  It is certainly creating a different story from its past, based on Wall Street’s new found appetite for venture backed technology companies

Boosting venture capital is tough – difficult for a seasoned entrepreneur, a minefield for the novice.  The time and effort required to raise venture capital is often underestimated, and can seriously disrupt a company with dozens of other business priorities.

"One can have a dream baby; two can make that dream so real... One can stand alone in the dark; two can make the light shine through”

The words of the Marvin Gaye song show us how playing the “Lone Ranger” (which I’ve written about before Are You Being a Lone Ranger) can mean you are missing out on big and many opportunities.

A large majority of the angel investors and venture capitalists who took part in a Booz & Company study say they will not put their money in digital content intermediaries (DCIs) if governments pass tough new rules allowing websites to be sued or fined for pirated digital content posted by users. (DCIs are the companies that provide search, hosting, and distribution services for digital content such as YouTube, Facebook, SoundCloud, eBay, and thousands of others.) More than 70 percent of angel investors reported they would be deterred from investing if anti-piracy regulations against "user uploaded" websites were increased.

Some of Entrepreneur Country's readers may have come across my book Angels, Dragons and Vultures - my guide for entrepreneurs to some of the intricacies of raising venture capital and managing the consequences. Probably fewer of you have come across my two historical novels, The Waste Land and The Flowers of Evil. I know that my three books together sound like one of those trilogies that seem to be all the rage in the publishing industry today, but they are not. Only the latter two are Holy Grail tales.

AirWalk Communications Inc., the leader in innovative small cell radio access networks, closed a further $10 million of Series B funding. This additional round of funds was led by Sevin Rosen and included investors: TL Ventures, Alta Berkeley, Duchossois Technology Partners and Nedelco Inc. AirWalk plans to use the investment to expand its small cell product portfolio, enhance the capabilities of existing CDMA products and launch LTE solutions.

I hate shopping at the best of times. Speciality retail did not do us too badly at Quester - we backed Waterstone's when it had three shops and it turned into the firm's first big success, although the first deal for which I was personally responsible that went bust was a fashion jewellery chain called Bow Bangles. After receivership it became the very successful Claire's Accessories.

API Technologies Corp, a provider of secure communications, electronic components and subsystems to the global defense and aerospace industries, has signed a definitive merger agreement with Vintage Capital Management LLC ("Vintage") to acquire SenDEC Corporation ("SenDEC"), a leading defense electronics manufacturing services company headquartered in Fairport, NY. Under the terms of the merger transaction, API will acquire 100% of the equity of SenDEC, which will include SenDEC's electronics manufacturing operations and approximately $30 million of cash, in exchange for the issuance of 22 million API common shares to an affiliate of Vintage.