Anyone used UK Angel Investment Network
- Thread starter neilwill1979
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I tried many of these investment angel crowds , most of them were only introducing and looking for angels and applicants. I found one who already had angels in place! It cost me more than £99 but i had contact with an angel within 10 days and have a deal for £135,000 being currently being negotiated. I dont know their parameters, I found them looking for someone financing women in business.
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- Original Poster
- #5
I signed up for this paid my money as they said 5 investors were interested. I contacted all investors that they gave me with a business plan/proposal and not one reply from any of them. So I lost out £100 I think its just a scam but hey if anyone else chooses to do it.
Good Luck
Neil
Good Luck
Neil
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I havent used this particular network, I used Ukinvestmentangels.com so I can only speak of them, sorry I cannot help.
ukinvestmentangels.com have amongst their angels at least one female friendly fund.
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B
Bespoke Car Design
Did you end up paying the £99?
Ive had 2 emails saying possible investors aswell and not sure if its just a scam to get the £99 and the emails are from members just being nosey or if its a genuine reply. Hard to tell I guess
Ive had 2 emails saying possible investors aswell and not sure if its just a scam to get the £99 and the emails are from members just being nosey or if its a genuine reply. Hard to tell I guess
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The UK Angel Investment Network is one of many sites run by the same people. It's a breeding ground for scams. I've unfortunately fallen prey to paying to see the "investors" on one of the other sites and, after doing a little digging on them, all of them were scams. I obviously can't say for sure that there are no legitimate investors on the site, but chances are good that the whole thing is nothing but an elaborate network of scam artists.
I would recommend staying away from any sites that you have to pay to get in contact with investors. The best approach is to find people or companies that have a passion for what you are trying to do and schedule face to face meetings.
I would recommend staying away from any sites that you have to pay to get in contact with investors. The best approach is to find people or companies that have a passion for what you are trying to do and schedule face to face meetings.
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Like I said, I can't say that there are no legitimate businesses that are looking to invest, but your chances of the replies you get being scams is rather high.
I've yet to hear of anyone that has actually received any money through a deal offered through a site like this.
I got an email yesterday from one of the contacts with a letter of intent. They actually were offering me the money I needed and the percentage of profits they wanted was lower than I was offering. Then I did some looking into the company and the whole thing is a scam. The company's name was Apex London Limited. What they do is have you go through this law firm to get all the details hammered out, but you wind up paying for all these "legal fees" and you'll never see a dime of the money they offered.
If you've got the money and you don't mind parting with it, then good luck and I hope a legitimate investor gets in touch with you.
I've yet to hear of anyone that has actually received any money through a deal offered through a site like this.
I got an email yesterday from one of the contacts with a letter of intent. They actually were offering me the money I needed and the percentage of profits they wanted was lower than I was offering. Then I did some looking into the company and the whole thing is a scam. The company's name was Apex London Limited. What they do is have you go through this law firm to get all the details hammered out, but you wind up paying for all these "legal fees" and you'll never see a dime of the money they offered.
If you've got the money and you don't mind parting with it, then good luck and I hope a legitimate investor gets in touch with you.
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I am a member of a few of these. if you pay £100 to get infront of some guys like me it isnt too bad. but they do just send up any old crud, so i dont look too hard at a lot of the plans. Some angels networks often are just companies that try to charge you serious money to get your proposal into a business plan. Often these are a waste of effort when looking for small funds. the more you need the more professional you have to be....but a few hours spent doing it properly yourself should be enough.
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barnslet
I recommend not only doing a google search for the name of the company that sent you the lead, but also do a whois database search on their domain name and see what contact information comes up and then google that company or person. I did this with one of the leads and found the email address he was using was a front and the domain name was registered to a guy that is involved with fake bank and lottery scams.
You can't be too careful. Someone pointed out on another thread that using a yahoo or other free email service address is bad news, but just because you have your own domain name and have an email address based on that domain doesn't mean you are a legitimate business either.
I recommend not only doing a google search for the name of the company that sent you the lead, but also do a whois database search on their domain name and see what contact information comes up and then google that company or person. I did this with one of the leads and found the email address he was using was a front and the domain name was registered to a guy that is involved with fake bank and lottery scams.
You can't be too careful. Someone pointed out on another thread that using a yahoo or other free email service address is bad news, but just because you have your own domain name and have an email address based on that domain doesn't mean you are a legitimate business either.
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Scam artists do not invest in companies. If the guy wants your money then there might be a problem. But if he gives you cash....whats the problem?
Angels often use hotmail or google mail as they are often in their 50's and dont know the subtlties.
Most angles dont have websites . Once you have done this for a while you get more than enough leads.
Angels often use hotmail or google mail as they are often in their 50's and dont know the subtlties.
Most angles dont have websites . Once you have done this for a while you get more than enough leads.
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I have to give some Kudos to the Angel Investment Network/Central Investment Network. When I contected them to point out my frustration at none of my leads being actual investors and some of them being scams, they not only responded and worked with me to remove the scam artists from their network, they also offered me a refund. This is the same group that runs the UK Angel Investment Network, so they are at least attmepting to run a good business.
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Moneyman, I agree with you about the Yahoo, Google, etc. email addresses. I pay for my Yahoo email address and have used it for a long time. I find the spam filters on it are more advanced than with some of the other services. However, I mentioned this on that other thread where I was asking for advice on how to get my business plan in front of investors and I was ripped apart for looking too unprofessional because of my Yahoo address. I tried to argue that I intend on setting up a seperate website and email address for the project once I get funded and that I don't see the need to spend money for unnecessary stuff up front.
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Yes, you are right. I'm also putting things in motion to have a sample scene from the film made and posted to the website. I'm just worried that since I won't have the money to produce that sample scene to the quality of how the feature will be, it will wind up hurting our cause rather than helping. Or should I count on people being smart enough to know that the actual feature will look a ton better with the funding behind it? What are your thoughts?
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I joined this site. It seems to me that there is no vetting of investors so you don't know which investors are genuine or scammers.
I have been contacted by two investors - one who then got banned from their site and another wo looks to be scamming money out of people looking for investment.
My major gripe is that there isn't a way of ontacting them by telephone and they are not quick at replying to emails. This isn't good if people are tryng to scam money out of you.
I have been contacted by two investors - one who then got banned from their site and another wo looks to be scamming money out of people looking for investment.
My major gripe is that there isn't a way of ontacting them by telephone and they are not quick at replying to emails. This isn't good if people are tryng to scam money out of you.
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i never give out a number before i have a look at the investment. i used to but you end up with loads of people bugging you all day. the madder the scheme the more they phone and then they get nasty.
There are loads of companies that sit as intermediaries, but if you are looking for under £100k i would say that they are a waste of time and money. pay a success fee but not an upfront fee. unless it is £100 for angels den or whatever. cheap and it does work.
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I fully understand that - I wouldn't in your position either. I was talking about the website ukinvestmentnetwork.co.uk not having any contact numbers. It becomes quite frustrating when you have suspicions about an investor and can't get in touch with the company you have paid to find and vet them.
In fairness, they have now given us a complete refund and deleted them from the site. I think we must have been very unlucky. There are some very good scammers out there.
It's just wasted two months of our time as we got quite a long way down the road. At least we didn't lose any money though.
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PayVector
I sense a business opportunity here for some aspiring entrepreneur. It seems to me that angels want to find good business opportunity leads and people want to find quality angels but the services that are out there to make the match and not up to scratch or could be improved.
If I were to run a service like this I would have different "Membership" levels. Free service no vetting or checking is available, basically you get what you pay for. As the level goes up so does features. Money Man was against the idea of vetting investors. Maybe vetting is to strong a word. How about profiling the investor so the investee (I know not a word) can look at what the investor is looking for and see if it is even worth while sending him the business plan. You could even have an ebay type rating system for both the investor and investee. You could even have a system whereby the service provider looks art business plans that come in and sends them to the investor(s) most likely to be interested. If I am an investor and I have to sift through 100 proposals to find one I am interested thats a lot of waisted time. If however I get 5 sent to me that match my list of likes then I would be a mutch happier camper. Same as for the investee. If I get my business plan looked over by a professional and get tips to make it presentable and then it is put in front of the right people I too will be a happy camper.
Just my thoughts anyways.
If I were to run a service like this I would have different "Membership" levels. Free service no vetting or checking is available, basically you get what you pay for. As the level goes up so does features. Money Man was against the idea of vetting investors. Maybe vetting is to strong a word. How about profiling the investor so the investee (I know not a word) can look at what the investor is looking for and see if it is even worth while sending him the business plan. You could even have an ebay type rating system for both the investor and investee. You could even have a system whereby the service provider looks art business plans that come in and sends them to the investor(s) most likely to be interested. If I am an investor and I have to sift through 100 proposals to find one I am interested thats a lot of waisted time. If however I get 5 sent to me that match my list of likes then I would be a mutch happier camper. Same as for the investee. If I get my business plan looked over by a professional and get tips to make it presentable and then it is put in front of the right people I too will be a happy camper.
Just my thoughts anyways.
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G
Gordon Liddle
I paid the full amount for this network and have had nothing back as yet (2 weeks and counting) other than a forward to their subsiduaries abroad. To make things worse they have gone offline today. I also joined CMYpitch and went to one of their pitching events in London. They are all hunting for investors/entrepreneurs, I made a couple of contacts from the London pitch but they seem to be circular. I'm an artist and rying to raise £600K with a full business plan but they seem to want to charge fornew business plans etc. Take some advise, do your own. I guess you have to keep trying as many avenues as possible and some are bound to be crooks. I seem to be only approached by money washers etc. By the way steer clear of VentureGiant, three replies, three scoundrels.
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I recently posted a business plan and received 4 potential hits - ALL of which were spam! in one case I actually had someone impersonating a billionnaire. When i contacted the REAL mr rich his office said they had received a number of complaints about the site and they were having their Counsel look into the matter immediately.
My advice is DONT USE THIS SITE!
My advice is DONT USE THIS SITE!
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G
Gordon Liddle
Hi Donna,
Had another set of scoundrels this week, again saying they are able to place money but it is obvious they have not read my plan as the method they wish to use (needing fees etc) is completely contrary to what I asked for. It's very depressing. I have contacted the actual Mr Big and let him know how his name is being used. It is however, very disappointing. Most of these sites seem to be set up by scoundrels or used by them. They should check out the 'investors' prior to allowing them contact.
Regards,
Gordon
Had another set of scoundrels this week, again saying they are able to place money but it is obvious they have not read my plan as the method they wish to use (needing fees etc) is completely contrary to what I asked for. It's very depressing. I have contacted the actual Mr Big and let him know how his name is being used. It is however, very disappointing. Most of these sites seem to be set up by scoundrels or used by them. They should check out the 'investors' prior to allowing them contact.
Regards,
Gordon
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It isnt the site's fault.
You post a business plan or offer investment you will get people trying to rip you off. Think of how we feel and why we normally avoid public sites. For ever good plan i get 5 interesting, another 20 not very good. 20 loonies and a couple of scams. Occasionally we use agencies but they tend to take your money tell you your plan is great with aa little work and then try to dump them on guys like me. well at least we know they arent scams but still half are unlikely. If you need more than £250k you need someone like beer and partners. But go for success fees rather than upfront.
however i am now a fan of speed funding. Like dragons den. you just get 10 mins to pitch but get in front of 20 investors in one evening...well worth £100 or so.
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G
Gordon Liddle
Already in touch with Beers but they don't do art based plans. I've also tried speed pitching etc but even most of these are in front of agents. Even so, some of the pitches I sat through before giving mine beggared belief. They can't have seriously thought they would raise the money! I suppose there are scammers on all sides but I have a golden rule. As soon as they ask for a fee of any sort, I bin them. My requirements are fully set out in my business plan and I don't intend to shift from this.
Kindest regards,
Gordon
Kindest regards,
Gordon
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If you are looking for £600k you need to forget speed pitching as it is only good for upto say £100k. It is unlikely that you can raise that sort of money without a fee. What the heck is an art based plan? you could try putting it up to me I have a very broad range of investments. unless it is a "give me £600k and you get a percentage of all my income as an artist for the next 10 years" sort of deal. in which case dont waste the email.
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A
asturton
I have used Angel Investment Network in the past for a colleague of mine, it was for a unique real estate development in Cyprus we had, which actually generated some cracking interest. In my opinion this website and similar websites are good for small investment amounts under say £100,000 If you are looking for a larger investment, your idea would need to be absolutely flawless.
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