River Capital Partners

What is FIRST DEAL?

Simply a fast track to your first investment of £10,000 through a mentored process with assistance from professional corporate finance and legal advisors. It is designed to get you started and prepare you for further investment.

Who can apply?

To be eligible for FIRST DEAL, you have to be taking part in a business and entrepreneurship competitions that Rivers Capital Partners are mentoring, presenting or judging at.

Alternatively, if you think that your company is suitable for FIRST DEAL, feel free to apply.

How do I apply?

To apply please submit the company’s business plan stating that you are applying to the FIRST DEAL investment process to

What if I want an investment of more than £10,000?

Then contact us at Rivers Capital and we will talk to you about our various routes to investment and venture capital. Mail us at

What is the process to get a £10,000 investment?

Rivers Capital Partners will confirm that the FIRST DEAL application has been received within 24 hours. Rivers will endeavor to get back to you with a decision regarding FIRST DEAL participation within two weeks of obtaining the application. If successful, an investment executive will be in contact to arrange an initial meeting to discuss the business, the opportunity, the Fund and FIRST DEAL.

If after the initial meeting the company meets the Fund’s investment criteria, the mentoring sessions will be organized if you so wish and the company will be invited to pitch for investment to the North East Angel Fund Investment Committee.

What happens at the mentoring sessions?

The mentoring sessions will involve you giving a brief introduction about your company, yourself and where you see the company in the future. Then you will have the chance to ask and discuss issues with the mentors. This is an informal process but to make the most out of the event, please can you have some pre-planed question prepared and bring your company documentation such as business plans, forecasts and accounts to date.

The mentoring sessions can be as short as you see fit or as long as an hour with each of the mentors. 

How long will it take?

From presenting to our Investment Committee to investment, provided you meet our criteria, it should take no more than 4 weeks to sign up to the investment. This is of course after you have received some investment readiness training from our team and also mentoring on your business plan and the financial and legal aspects of your business.

What will it cost me?

Nothing to enter and the pre-investment seminar and mentoring from our partner companies and Rivers Capital is exclusive to you and FREE. After the investment its up to you what services you need, we can discuss this as we progress.

What's the catch?

There isn't one the whole investment process will be explained to you and you will be guided along the way. The £10,000 investment is of course at the discretion of the Investment Committee of Rivers Capital Partners as this is a proper venture capital investment. If you decide to accept the investment it will be in the form of a fixed equity deal with the North East Angel Fund.

What happens after the investment?

We will continue to work with you and guide the business as any investor shareholder part of our family of portfolio of companies. FinanceTree and SquareOne Law will be available if you want to work with them.

I heard it was up to £150,000 investment?

As we consider you for your first £10,000 assuming you get that far, we will have begun to assess with you your future investment and cash requirements. Part of the point of investing the £10,000 is to prepare you for future investment and we can indeed start to put together a potential £150,000 investment or more at the point, if you make the grade.