Fred Ursell

Nov 14, 2024 | maddyness.com | David Johnson |Graham Ruddick |Fred Ursell

Nothing could have prepared me for this moment. Here. Right now, writing a "hear me out" piece about Belgium, of all places. But here we are. Now say Ghent five times fast, and hear me out. Ghent does not look anything like “Belgium's answer to Silicon Valley.” It’s not a valley, granted. Far less self-driving cars. And, thankfully, fewer quarter zip vests. Yet here I am, marking my fourth new beginning in the past decade– following Barcelona, Amsterdam, and most recently, Berlin.

Dec 29, 2023 | elitebusinessmagazine.co.uk | Fred Ursell

To put this into context, this is 95 per cent of the  travel industry’s value in 2019, and amazingly while we are in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis. It is increasingly evident that the sector is experiencing a  renaissance. After some turbulent years, the travel industry has found its stride once more –and is booming The WTTC has even predicted that in 10 years’ time, the industry could reach a value of over $15 trillion.

Aug 8, 2023 | elitebusinessmagazine.co.uk | Fred Ursell

This has been accompanied by heightened scrutiny of underlying business models and the funding requirement of the growth plans companies are asking investors to fund. Despite this nervousness, a number of investors remain eager to back promising opportunities. However, this market sentiment and a lower volume of investment has pushed the bar even higher for raising capital. To counteract this, we believe founders should focus on ensuring ‘investor fit’ when approaching potential.

Jun 7, 2023 | businessage.com | Fred Ursell

Fred Ursell, investment director of Pembroke VCT, reveals how institutional investors thinkLooking to raise institutional funding? You will not be surprised to hear you are not the only one. It is currently harder than ever to secure investment, recent data from Beauhurst and Sifted shows seed-stage first-round investments are down 28% year on year.

Apr 25, 2023 | ffnews.com | Alisa Thoren |David Foreman |Fred Ursell |Iain Griffin

Revolutionary rail ticketing app, Seatfrog, has secured £6m in a growth funding round to accelerate expansion across Europe. Seatfrog has become the go-to platform for rail operators and the go-to destination for more than one million customers to buy tickets, upgrade to first-class and switch trains, all in one app. As the cost-of-living crisis continues to bite, Seatfrog has saved passengers more than £43m.