'This is a fantastic opportunity': Two Northern Ireland entrepreneurs among founders to share £3.28m investment journey
Movetru’s Naomi McGregor and FreQnc’s Rachel McMullin will share their experiences of raising finance at an AwakenHub event for women founders
Two Northern Ireland women entrepreneurs are among four founders who will share their experiences of raising investment at an AwakenHub online event.
Naomi McGregor, founder of Movetru and Rachel McMullin, founder of FreQnc, will join Clare Ryan of ITUS Secure Technologies and Wendy Slattery of Kaidron for tomorrow’s (Tuesday) event.
The four entrepreneurs have collectively raised £3.28m in investment and will discuss their individual fundraising journeys, including what worked, what did not, the lessons they learned and what they wish they had known before starting the process.
The event, which begins at 5pm, forms part of AwakenHub’s monthly community series. While the sessions are normally available only to members, September’s event has been opened to women founders across Ireland.
Clare McGee, CEO and co-founder of AwakenHub and AwakenAngels, said: “We wanted to get beyond the polished success stories and give as many women founders as possible an opportunity to hear from four entrepreneurs who have actually been through the investment process and those who are preparing to do so again.
“Between them, they have raised £3.28m, and this is a fantastic opportunity to hear what founders need to be thinking of, the questions they should keep in mind, what to do when things don’t go their way and how important it is to have a community of peers to lean into, as well as what they would do differently.”
She added that the session would be particularly relevant to women founders or co-founders considering a fundraising round as part of their growth plans.
The event comes during a busy September for AwakenHub, with applications open for a number of programmes aimed at supporting women at different stages of their business and investment journeys.
Women founders and aspiring investors have until September 21 to apply for two flagship AwakenHub and AwakenAngels programmes, alongside a related investor training programme.
SheGenerate 6.0 is an all-island programme for early-stage women founders. It is designed to help participants validate their ideas, strengthen their business propositions and prepare for growth.
Meanwhile, WeScale Cohort 3 is aimed at women founders with established businesses who are ready to scale, access new markets and prepare for investment.
The all-island programme is led by InterTradeIreland in partnership with Invest Northern Ireland and Enterprise Ireland as part of the Shared Island Enterprise Scheme, funded by the Government of Ireland.
Delivered by AwakenHub, WeScale combines teaching, practical business application, mentoring and access to investor and corporate networks.
Applications for both programmes close on September 21.
AwakenAngels is also inviting women interested in becoming investors to apply for its next Investor Academy.
The nine-module, online CPD-accredited programme provides practical training in angel investing and begins on September 29. Sponsored places are available.
Awaken Angels is supported in part by the British Business Bank and InterTradeIreland through a programme designed to support and accelerate the development of female-led angel syndicates across the island of Ireland.
Prospective angel investors will also have the opportunity to see founders pitch live at AwakenAngels’ next online pitch event, which takes place on September 22 at 7pm.
Women founders can register for tomorrow’s event online or find further information through AwakenHub’s website.