Review Process & Confidentiality

The following is intended to be a brief guide to our investment process. Timelines can vary enormously depending on specific circumstances so please get in touch if you have any questions or concerns. We have produced a printable PDF-formatted version of this guide.

Information we require

1. Executive summary / PowerPoint presentation and 12-month cash flow
Then, if we feel there might be a good fit:
2. Full business plan and financial model
3. Sales pipeline / customer document

Confidentiality Policy

Maintaining the confidentiality of our clients’ plans, know-how, projects and relationships is essential to the foundations of our business. Our firm is contacted each day with new investment opportunities. It is central to the success of our business that each is treated with integrity. We do not sign any form of non-disclosure agreement or letter of confidentiality but work with reference to this Policy Statement.

We will not divulge confidential information (information that is neither obvious nor in the public domain at the time of our receiving it) given to us as part of an investment enquiry to anyone outside Oxford Capital Partners or its Council of Advisors without the permission of the person who sent it to us. If we receive an opportunity about a project or business which is in conflict or competition with one of our clients or investees, or a business with which we are in more advanced discussions, we will inform the sender as soon as possible after identifying the possible conflict

Should you have doubts about a potential conflict, please contact us.

Timeline

1–2 days – initial review

Following receipt of an introduction, we aim to acknowledge within 24 hours. Like all venture capital firms, we are busy so this can slip. Feel free to follow up by phone or email if you do not hear anything.

1–2 weeks – detailed review

We will carefully consider the information you send to us. If we can quickly come to a decision as to whether or not an opportunity is of interest, we will let you know. Likewise, if we require more information, we will contact you.

2–4 weeks – meetings and due diligence

If we feel there would be a good fit, we will get in touch to arrange a meeting with your team. These meetings generally take the form of a 60–90 minute presentation and Q&A session, with time split roughly equally between the two. We like to achieve a good understanding of a business before meeting, so it is better to send through too much information in advance rather than too little.

c.3 months – due diligence and deal closing

The remainder of our process follows a fairly standard venture capital model. It can take anywhere between a few weeks and many months to close a deal. A rule-of-thumb is to allow for at least three months from start to finish.

Meeting Arrangements

Format

Our meeting will usually take the form of a half hour presentation followed by a more general discussion.

Normally we will want to have seen and digested your full business plan before arranging a meeting. This lets us focus on the key issues in valuable face-to-face time. It is important to address questions raised during the presentation rather than simply presenting the contents of the slide – we often find that the answers to our questions help us reach a decision faster.

Duration

Try to keep your presentation to half an hour or so. It is highly likely that you will be interrupted a few times for questions!

Projection equipment

We are equipped with a projector with a VGA connector (not DVI so may not work with some recent Apple laptops). If your laptop does not have a VGA output, it may be worth emailing us your presentation in advance so we can use one of our own laptops.