Financing

September 2021

The fall of Greensill and the future of supply chain finance

By S. Alex Yang, Lisa Duke

In March 2021, Greensill Capital, the UK-based leading supply chain financing provider, with 16 offices across the world, filed for insolvency; its Germany-based bank closed by regulators. Less than two years earlier, Greensill had received a $1.5 billion investment from SoftBank’s Vision Fund, va...

July 2021

The ‘Funding Buffet’: Understanding the sources of capital to finance your venture – Technical Note

By Luisa Alemany, Gary Dushnitsky

This technical note is an introduction to the world of financing entrepreneurial ventures. It is a primer on the different stages of a business and the different types of financing available. Most of the capital that high-growth entrepreneurial businesses will secure to fund their future plans is pr...

August 2016

ONk: Dining at the Funding Buffet

By Gary Dushnitsky

The idea for ONk originated in 2012 when six-year-old Mike asked his father, Sam Ke, one night, “Can we make a computer that is simple and fun?” Soon afterwards, a team of three – Alex Bell, Joe Costa and Sam Ke – came together to answer the call. The mission: to give young people – and th...

March 2017

Raising capital for Financial Butler (C)

By Bryan Stroube, Michael Bikard, Ken Mark

This case focuses on Nick Hungerford’s attempt to raise capital for his FinTech start-up, Financial Butler, (later renamed Nutmeg). The concept is a digital platform offering a revolutionary, transparent and fair service to an “untapped” market segment currently not served by wealth managers, ...

March 2017

Raising capital for Financial Butler (B)

By Bryan Stroube, Michael Bikard, Ken Mark

This case focuses on Nick Hungerford’s attempt to raise capital for his FinTech start-up, Financial Butler, (later renamed Nutmeg). The concept is a digital platform offering a revolutionary, transparent and fair service to an “untapped” market segment currently not served by wealth managers, ...

March 2017

Raising capital for Financial Butler (A)

By Bryan Stroube, Michael Bikard, Ken Mark

This case focuses on Nick Hungerford’s attempt to raise capital for his FinTech start-up, Financial Butler, (later renamed Nutmeg). The concept is a digital platform offering a revolutionary, transparent and fair service to an “untapped” market segment currently not served by wealth managers, ...

June 2017

Propay Ltd (B)

By Keith Willey

Rick Stein is faced with taking rapid action to both save his business and at the same time take advantage of a surprise exit opportunity. As usual there’s a cash squeeze but should the business take more money and if so where from and on what terms?...

January 2018

ProPay Ltd (A)

By Keith Willey

Rick Stein gazed out at Propay Ltd’s car park where his fifteen-year-old car now languished.A year ago ProPay’s previous owner parked his Maserati in the exact same spot – a contrast that seemed oddly symbolic of Rick’s current predicament. He had bought the payments gateway business after r...

August 2018

NakedWines.com

By John Mullins

Thanks to its somewhat whimsical yet measurement-driven culture, its unusual customer-funded business model, and its committed community of winemakers and wine 'angels', NakedWines had grown rapidly, from a standing start in 2008 to a substantial presence in three of the world's most attractive mark...

January 2013

Endomagnetics

By John Bates, Jeff Skinner, Oliver Rivers

The case explores the methodologies for valuing an early stage, IP based business. Endomagnetics is a university spin-off based on technology from University college London. By the time of the case the business has raised (and largely spent) a seed round and is about to raise ‘Series A’. The new...