Emma Jones interviews Richard Bearman about when and how to apply for a Start Up Loan. As well, he shares how to access growth finance.

Funding from start-up to scale-up

Webinar

Richard Bearman is the managing director of small business lending at 

. With over 20 years of experience in the banking sector, he has developed a real passion for working with and supporting entrepreneurs.

At the British Business Bank, Richard is responsible for the

, working with a range of delivery partners across the UK to help start-up businesses access funding. He was previously the UK head of small business at HSBC.

Enterprise Nation is the UK's most active small business network, helping thousands of people turn their good idea into a great business. 

 to get everything you need to start and grow your small business, in one place.

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Lunch and Learn Funding from start-up to scale-up

Lunch and Learn: Funding from start-up to scale-up

Richard Bearman from British Business Bank shares insights on securing growth finance from start-up to scale-up.

I&apos;m a <a href=&apos;https://danmartinuk.com/&apos; target=&apos;_self&apos;>freelance content creator and event host</a> who helps small businesses and the organisations that support them. I&apos;m also Enterprise Nation&apos;s Local Leader for Bristol.
I have 20 years of experience as a small business journalist having interviewed hundreds of entrepreneurs from famous names like Sir Richard Branson and Deborah Meaden to the founders behind brand new start-ups.
I&apos;ve worked for a range of leading small business publications and support groups, most recently as head of content at Enterprise Nation where I was responsible for the prolific output of content on the company&apos;s blog and social media. I now freelance for Enterprise Nation as the website&apos;s <a href=&apos;https://www.enterprisenation.com/business-news&apos; target=&apos;_self&apos;>news reporter</a> and as the host of the <a href=&apos;https://www.enterprisenation.com/podcast&apos; target=&apos;_self&apos;>Small Business sessions podcast</a>.
I&apos;m based in Bristol where I run and host regular events with the local small business community in my role as Enterprise Nation&apos;s Local Leader for Bristol. I also have strong connections with other major business organisations in the south west region.
In total, I&apos;ve hosted over 100 events including conferences with an audience of hundreds for international brands like Xero and Facebook and live web chats from inside 10 Downing Street.
With my partner, I co-run <a href=&apos;https://www.lifestyledistrict.co.uk/&apos; target=&apos;_self&apos;>Lifestyle District</a>, a lifestyle blog focused on culture, art, theatre and photography.

Freelance content creator & event host

Entrepreneurs awarded in New Year's Honours 2025

Several business owners have been recognised by King Charles III in the 2025 New Year's Honours.

Hello,
My name is Kim. Nice to meet you.
I look at money and finance in a different way to most people.
I can help you with your accounting systems and procedures, whether you are a CEO of a business, own your own company (possibly a start-up), or an individual who needs help with your personal finances.
However, as well as practical solutions, I can also help you understand and improve your relationship with money, because this can have a huge effect on both your business and personal life. Sometimes it&apos;s things like money blocks and money ceilings that can have a bigger impact on your business than you realise.

Money Chats

Money Chats is an informal group hosted over Zoom, where you can talk about money and find support.

Hatty Fawcett, Founder of <a href=&apos;https://focusedforbusiness.com/&apos; target=&apos;_self&apos;>Focused For Business</a>, is on a mission to make it faster and fairer for start-up founders and business owners to raise equity investment, particularly when they are doing so for the first or second time.
Reports show that gender, ethnicity and geographical location can all be barriers to accessing funding. Hatty and the team at Focused For Business believe investment should be available to everyone, and that the process shouldn’t be over complicated or unnecessarily time consuming.
Hatty, has a strong track record in supporting start-ups and raising investment. She has worked in three startups, raised equity investment for her former business (a marketplace) and also managed some of the investments Kelly Hoppen made when she appeared on the TV show “Dragons Den”. This experience gives Hatty a unique perspective when it comes to raising investment and the ability to see funding from both sides of “the fence”.
Hatty and the Focused For Business team run the <a href=&apos;https://focusedforbusiness.com/raising-equity-investment/funding-accelerator/&apos; target=&apos;_self&apos;>Funding Accelerator</a> programme which has raised over £22 million for businesses that have graduated from the programme, over £10 million of which was raised in the last 12 months.
Hatty’s unique perspective on start-up funding, and the work she does to level the playing field when it comes to raising equity investment, has resulted in her being a finalist in the Great British Entrepreneur Awards in 2023, and being recognised as Adviser of the Year 2022 and in 2024 by Enterprise Nation.

Funding Accelerator

A three month programme designed to:
1) help you prepare all the documents needed to raise equity investment
2) find and pitch to the right investors for your business
3) support you in negotiating and closing the funding round

The programme is delivered live through weekly 90 minute Zoom workshops. Weekly assignments have you in action preparing everything you need step-by-step and expert mentors provide feedback and input to help you improve your documents to successfully attract investors.



Serial entrepreneur and innovation director across multiple verticals, with a technology and sector agnostic approach to consulting. Currently consulting to various ventures ie Medtech, CPG, FMCG, Fintech, Adtech, HeathTech etc

Having been deeply immersed in the Startup / SME EcoSystem for approximately 25 years, in 2 distinct sectors and countries with various business models. Providing both product / services for b2b and b2b segments has allowed me to gain a solid amount of diverse knowledge and understanding.
This entrepreneurial experience also allowed to gain insights of the innovation value chain and operational requirements of building / scaling ventures, for product market fit. The critical component of fundraising through various mechanisms, is an area that I understand well, having bootstrapped businesses and then raised circa 3m Euros across angel, Venture Capital and the European Development Fund (EDF).
The full spectrum of the fund-raising process was arguably the most challenging aspect of venture building for a multitude of reasons and it was a definite grind to get it done. Learning to dealing with brutal reality was a crucial part of success and helped test / fortify my resilience and growth mindset.
The last venture Zveetz had a regenerative aspect with a mission to make a dent against sugar pollution and its consequences to people and planet. Working cross functionally with a stellar team of individuals including food and behavioural scientists to deliver an impactful value proposition was highly rewarding. The business model was multifaceted with transactional, subscription and asymmetrical revenue streams. We were able to move the needle on sugar reduction and enabled people to be more sugar smart, thereby hitting multiple impact and revenue KPI’s.
Previously to that, I had the privilege of deep diving into the world of AI, machine learning &amp; ontologies to build a recommendation engine SaaS for the e-commerce sector, although there were multiple future use cases for the technology. This immersion and venture was very challenging for multiple reasons but ultimately the outcomes were net positive, so the juice was worth the squeeze.
hankfully, I have been able to transition into the role of an Innovation Director and apply skills / experience to provide consultation across the Oxford Innovation ecosystem to various stakeholders.&nbsp;
<ul>
<li>Performed 96 one to one business support sessions and workshops for students, faculty, startup and SMEs teams.</li>
<li>Consulting with the KTP (Knowledge Transfer Partnerships) department to revamping program offering and positioning to meet desired Research Excellence Framework (REF 29) standards.</li>
<li>Supporting faculty members across the UnIversity’s different schools, on commercialisation of their research and various potential fund-raising strategies.</li>
<li>Working with the AI Research group within the University to develop their strategic roadmap.</li>
<li>Supporting the establishment of “Managementfest”, a student led innovation &amp; entrepreneurship conference and accelerator programme at BNU.</li>
<li>Regularly meeting with the university leadership committee to report all innovation initiatives and results.</li>
<li>Leading Oxford Innovation AI working group with a remit to i) develop a wholistic adoption strategy for competitive advantage. ii) Steering AI integration and operationalisation across the org, towards ISO42001 (trustworthy) compliance.</li>
</ul>

Innovation Director

Vishal Kawatra

Serial entrepreneur and innovation director across multiple verticals, with a technology and sector agnostic approach to consulting. Currently consulting to various ventures ie Medtech, CPG, FMCG, Fintech, Adtech, HeathTech etc

Having been deeply immersed in the Startup / SME EcoSystem for approximately 25 years, in 2 distinct sectors and countries with various business models. Providing both product / services for b2b and b2b segments has allowed me to gain a solid amount of d

Funding from start-up to scale-up

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