Garside leaves Cambridge Angels with a stratospheric legacy
The healthcare industry doyen was the body's first female chair when she took the role in September 2022 and has handed the reins to dual appointees Amy Weatherup and Robert Swann, both serial entrepreneurs of renowned stature.
On her watch, Cambridge Angels made its first international investment and cemented its position as a leader in the marketplace.
She tells Business Weekly: “When I took on the chair role I stated that I wanted to do three things during my tenure – ‘Keep the show on the road’ in difficult market conditions coming out of the Covid era, increase diversity, and increase visibility of what we do as an angel group. I think we have gone some good way to achieving these things but, as ever, we still have some distance to go.
“The past three years have been marked by fairly turbulent political changes both in the UK and the US which has clearly had an impact on the funding environment. There are a growing number of funding agencies and VCs who are in the pre seed and seed stage of investment with whom we compete and sometimes collaborate.
“There is no shortage of innovation coming to us from the University and indeed nationwide. We find that follow on funding post-seed is a critical time for our portfolio companies and a good proportion of our funds are committed to follow-on rounds.I personally am committed to helping female founders and we haven't done badly in this area either.
“I believe that through our initiatives we have been responsive to market conditions and without completely disrupting our model have made some important changes to our processes including deal sourcing, screening and dealflow.
“We have also significantly improved our brand visibility and are consistent in our messaging of ‘Smart capital from entrepreneurs to entrepreneurs'. We have continued two things that Simon Thorpe started as our previous chair, namely partnerships with other angel groups and our sector-focused dinners, convening thought leaders on cutting edge topics such as AI, healthcare and climate tech.
“Cambridge Angels is helping with the formation of Sheffield Angels and Oxford Venture Angels who are both following our model; we also have strong relationships with the Manchester early stage ecosystem.
Furthermore, we implemented the Emeritus category of membership to which we welcomed David Cleevely and the late Peter Cowley.
“Both our membership and company applicant pipelines are strong, another measure of our success perhaps, and we have been named in the top most active angel groups in the UK by Beauhurst for two years running.
“I would like to thank all of the board who have been terrific and work so hard for us and, of course, to the indefatigable Emmi Nicholl who is a huge asset, as you all know. Emmi’s title has been changed to CEO of Cambridge Angels which we think is important - she increasingly represents us to the outside world, and this also recognises her expanded role. Also thanks to our corporate members and our sponsor HSBC Innovation Banking, whom we value highly.
“I couldn't be more pleased to hand over the co-chair role to Amy Weatherup and Robert Swann. Amy is an exited entrepreneur, experienced angel, mentor and board adviser who champions founders from idea to scale. Robert is a seasoned tech founder and investor with a track record of building and backing high-growth companies. Both are long standing members of Cambridge Angels. We are definitely in safe hands.
“Being chair has meant a lot of time but has been great fun - and I have learnt a huge amount!"
