People’s Champion finalist 2017: Collegiate Capital

Start-up name: Collegiate Capital
Founder: Abbas Kazmi
Started in: 2016
Based in: London
Business description: Venture capital firm and company builder

Shortlisted category:

Young Entrepreneur of the Year 

The Collegiate Capital story:

Collegiate Capital founder Abbas Kazmi was recently announced as one of the Young Guns Class of 2017 and deservedly so: the 25-year-old entrepreneur has already achieved more than most manage in a lifetime.

Aiming to be the most entrepreneur friendly venture capital firm and company builder, Collegiate Capital – which Kazmi has raised over $100m for – is on a mission to change the way the industry works with founders.

Focusing on pre-seed, seed and Series A stage companies, it provides a full suite of services including everything from technological and legal support to marketing, international expansion and accounting services.

For Kazmi, Collegiate Capital is about showing that adding value to a business involves more than just writing cheques and “ having occasional meetings with management”.

Through its relationships with public and private sector partners, Collegiate’s schemes can help start-ups unlock and access vital markets such as the US and Asia – schemes it hopes won’t just help companies to grow, but could tackle the greatest issues the world faces and help everyone win, prosper and grow economically with the creation of new wealth and jobs.

Additionally, Collegiate has an extensive global network of university partnerships, which it uses to identify, commercialise and invest in disruptive ideas and academic research, assisting in bringing products through concept, to practical application and market.

It hopes that this commercialisation platform will be able to convert this knowledge and research into products, solutions and businesses that benefit society and the economy, and tackle civilisation’s most pressing problems.

Why Collegiate Capital made our shortlist:

Collegiate’s partners have more than 150 years of experience building and managing businesses between them and are well placed to help the next generation of ambitious entrepreneurs and “cutting-edge” companies navigate the stormy waters of enterprise. Behind it all is the start-ups precocious founder Kazmi, with huge ambition and the necessary chutzpah and experience to back it up.

Where to find out more about Collegiate Capital:

Website: collegiate.capital
Twitter: @collegiatehq