Michael Weaver, CEO of the business angel network that is hosting today’s fair, believes that a good management team is key for any of the early stage companies hoping to secure investment.

He expects some 150 business angels to visit the fair, which raised more than £1.6 million for exhibiting clients last year.

Weaver insists the event is not ‘speed investing’ but, more accurately, ‘Dragons’ Den without the humiliation’.

Beer & Partners is also launching its Life Sciences division at the fair, which it sees as a ‘critical’ growing market.

Joe Tager is a business angel and executive assistant to private equity investor Luke Johnson, the largest single shareholder in Beer & Partners with a 27.4 per cent stake.

Tager explains that he will be looking to invest in businesses where he believes he can add value, adding that investors ‘can’t get hung up on valuation’.

Like Weaver, he thinks it is important to ‘get a feel for management’ before approaching a business with an offer.

Beer & Partners currently has a 1,800-strong network of investors and looks at 3,000 business plans a year.

The average investment through the network is £100,000.