Funding is fundamental to starting and growing your business. Fripp Design and Research have successfully helped companies find hundreds of thousands of pounds of funding from a variety of sources:
The Banks
Banks are a good source of funding where you require working capital to fund cash flow. The UK Government provide schemes which will underwrite proportions of any loans you may need; some of these schemes are either market of geographically focused. Fripp Design and Research can help find you sources of bank funding.
As well as loans, there are sources of equity investment too.
Business Angels
A business angel is an individual who typically, have sold up, made their money and are looking for new opportunities. A business angel would, typically invest sums in the region of �100K. They are eligible for tax relief on their investment which makes the investment very tax efficient for them too. The advantage of a business angel is that they normally invest in businesses where they have personal knowledge of the market i.e. they will get involved. Fripp Design and Research has a access to networks of Business Angels.
Equity Funding
Fripp Design and Research works with Venture Capital companies, especially those supported by the UK Government to encourage investment in higher risk opportunities. The Government supported schemes tend to be focused on specific markets or geographical regions. Fripp Design and Research can help identify the best sources of equity funding dependant upon what you need.
Grant Funding:
There are a plethora of grant schemes available. Fripp Design and Research has extensive success in finding sources of grant funding and how best to win them. This often involves the collaboration of the public and private sectors; again where Fripp Design and Research has many years experience.
Getting Investor Ready:
As members of Connect Yorkshire, we can offer coaching on how to prepare your idea/business for investment under their Understanding Finance for Business Scheme. This is a program designed to prepare you for investment and covers all the areas that are important to an investor, issues such as:
- Is your idea unique, replicable and protected from copy cats?
- Is there a market need for what you propose (do you have customers already) and how big is the opportunity?
- What are the market entry costs (and exit costs if it does not work out)?
- What risk are you taking or are prepared to take in the venture?
- Is your valuation credible?
- Are you and your team credible?
- How much are you asking for and will it be enough?
- How does the investor exit?
Answering these 8 questions will qualify the risk to an investor in the opportunity you are presenting.
