Advantage Creative Fund
Problem
How do you run a £5m venture capital fund with no office?
Brief
The Advantage Creative Fund is a unique proposition in Europe. The fund was set up with public money to boost the creative industries in the West Midlands, but operates like any commercial venture capital fund, taking equity stakes in commercial concerns in return for capital. ACF set up from day one as a virtual organisation. As many of the consultants work for the organisation on a self-employed or part-time basis a central office was not required. This meant that ACF would require a system for exchanging files, assessing business plans, monitoring financials and reporting to funders. The Internet was clearly mechanism for this communication, but the form of the solution was less obvious.
Solution
Made Media won the tender to deliver a website, along with some form of extranet to allow file exchange and monitoring. In the event, Made delivered a tightly-defined Customer Relationship Management system, run entirely over the web. The system enables and tracks the entire process, from an initial tentative enquiry from a new enterprise, through upload and assessment of the business plan, through to monitoring the performance of investees and the production of collated output reports for the European Regional Development Fund.
The system can even match incoming enquiries against postcode boundaries, keeping a running total of investments against the Regional Development Agency's target areas for regeneration.
