Fundraising

WHEN WILL YOU NEED FINANCE?

The answer is, at most stages of your business journey. You may need funds for:

• Starting a business
• Accelerating your growth
• Investing in new machinery, technology or premises to improve your performance
• Acquiring another business
• Funding a management buyout or a shareholder exit
• Restructuring existing finance to reduce cost.

By gaining a full appreciation of what you want to achieve, your financial forecasts and your outlook on risk, we can then identify the amount of funding you will realistically require, and work with you to check affordability. Above all, our advice will be honest, informed and pragmatic, based on our success in securing finance for numerous clients across all sectors.

FINANCE TO GET YOU STARTED

Your business fundraising options are likely to include a mix of equity and debt, and the funds you can access will be partly dictated by the status of your business. If you’re just starting up, you may be looking to finance it by using:

• Your personal wealth
• Loans from family and friends
• Crowdfunding
• High net worth individuals
• Angel investors
• Venture capitalists
• Government start-up loans
• SEIS (Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme)
• Small business grants.

At this point, a key question to ask is what sort of relationship do you want from your funder? This is particularly important if you’re a start-up, as you will inevitably be working closely together and may be looking for someone who will share their experience with you.

FINANCE FOR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT

As you grow, other options will become available to you including:

• Bank overdrafts
• Long-term commercial loans and mortgages
• Asset-based lending
• Mezzanine debt
• Leasing your equipment or machinery
• EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme)
• IPO (initial public offering) and ECM (equity capital markets)

We can explain which sources are likely to be appropriate for your business and your particular needs at the time. For example, do you need a short-term, relatively modest injection of funds or are you looking for a considerable sum to fund long-term plans? Then we’ll also talk you through the pros and cons of each route, so we can weigh them up together and guide you to an informed and commercially sound decision.

SECURING YOUR FINANCE

Once we’ve guided you through the most realistic and practical funding possibilities, we can then initiate the process of securing your finance. This includes project managing the process and carrying out critical aspects such as due diligence on your funders, thereby saving you time which you can devote to running your business.

From there, we’ll help you set out a sound, compelling business plan and credible financial forecasts, and prepare and present your proposals. Having good working relationships with many finance providers means we can approach and negotiate with them on your behalf. Throughout the process, we’ll keep you updated with advice and if you wish, accompany you to meetings with your funders to ensure they go smoothly. When the funding is agreed in principle, we’ll liaise with your lawyers on the legal documents and advise on the commercial elements, to ensure you’ll be securing the most advantageous terms.