Investment

Tech journalist Martin SFP Bryant has launched PreSeed Now, a ‘premium’ newsletter which aims to keep early-stage investors informed about the best tech startups the UK has to offer.

Focusing on deep tech and B2B startups, PreSeed Now will offer subscribers an in-depth profile of a different company every Tuesday and Thursday. Aimed at investors and others in the early-stage startup space, it will highlight emerging companies from across the UK.

The newsletter is designed to fill a gap in current tech media: highlighting the most promising, emerging companies before they’ve raised their first round of funding. It says this will help pre-seed investors find deals, and later-stage investors understand who should be on their radar in the coming months.

“The tech press tends not to cover startups at their earliest stages,” said Bryant. “This is understandable; in a world where big-money VC funding deals are announced every day, there are more than enough startups who have proven themselves newsworthy to keep journalists busy. 

“But the early-stage part of the tech industry deserves to be documented as it’s where every startup’s journey begins, and there are so many compelling ideas being tried.”

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To ensure the startups covered by PreSeedNow are credible and have real potential, the publication will draw on connections with universities and accelerators, and make use of Bryant’s 13 years of experience as a technology journalist and editor in the early-stage startup space to scout out interesting companies.

Bryant’s background includes time as editor-in-chief at The Next Web – now owned by the Financial Times – and supporting emerging startups in the North of England at Tech North. More recently, he has worked with early-stage startups and VC investors across Europe and the US, consulting on their communications and media messaging.

“This newsletter’s sweet spot is companies that have moved beyond an idea on the back of a napkin but are yet to raise external equity investment,” explained Bryant. “The first companies we’ll cover are founded by people with strong experience in the field they’re addressing or are building on top of their own academic research and development. 

“They’ve started to build their product, and often have their first customers or external partners.” 

Startups involved in high-quality programmes like Entrepreneur First, ConceptionX, and Ignite NI are among those featured in early issues.

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PreSeed Now is a paid subscription newsletter, priced at £10 per month or £100 per year. For the first two weeks, all content will be available for free. After this, a free subscription tier will offer a monthly roundup of the startups covered in recent weeks.

PreSeed Now is published by Martin SFP Bryant’s company Big Revolution and powered by the Substack platform. It is available from today at www.preseednow.com.