Getting ready to raise finance

If you are looking to raise finance to fund your business growth plans, we will help with:

• Developing a business plan for the proposition and financial projections that reflect the plan >Business strategy and planning.
• Identifying the funding requirement.
• Identifying suitable sources of finance available to your business from traditional lenders and funders to new alternative financiers.
• Applying for and securing the funding. 

We advise on getting your business investor ready.

We will ensure the plan, the proposition, the risks, the forecasts and sensitivities have all been thoroughly stress and best/worst case scenario tested by our team, and will stand up to funder and investor scrutiny.

This will help you to secure all of the funding you need to fund your business expansion, scale-up, job creation or project requirements.

Part of the funding journey involves the business owners working with us, doing the homework on what finance is available.

We will help you to decide what type of finance is suitable for your project requirements and and what the funding will be used for. We will also review any conditions or covenants that may come attached to the funding – and we will can help you to prepare financial projections and quarterly MI and management accounts that are usually required by the funder/lender.

The four main types of funding are debt, equity, business grants and alternative finance. 

We have a strong network of contacts across the traditional funders, new financiers and enterprise agencies in Scotland. We can introduce you to the right specialists and potential funders. Here are some of the funders, lenders and grant providers we will discuss with you:

Traditional funders and alternative finance. e.g. Banks and commercial lenders, invoice financiers, asset finance

Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) Grant Funding – this a discretionary grant that can be awarded to limited companies, partnerships and sole traders who aim to develop a project that directly create or safeguard jobs within your business in Scotland. Up to 30% of eligible costs can be secured. The current RSA scheme is no longer accepting applications, however we expect the scheme to be replaced by other schemes recently announced by both the UK and Scottish Governments. We will discuss the current grant schemes and incentives that could be available to your business project at our initial meeting.

Local Authority support and grant funding, Scottish Enterprise support, grant funding and matched funding and local Business Gateway support for business expansion and job creation projects. There is a range of support available through these local and national agencies. Depending on your business expansion, growth or scale-up objectives we can help to make the right introductions to the right agencies >Business Grants

Equity Funding and Angel Investors – angel investors can provide an injection of business capital, usually in return for stake in your business. Alongside this stake can come insight, knowledge and commercial nous of an experienced business professional; the kind of help you may need to build your business and make more of the right moves, and less of the risky ones. If you are interested in looking at equity investment, we can provide you with an initial sounding board and help you to make the right introductions to potential investors. 

We can also help you to get ready to raise finance and prepare the financial projections that are usually required by the investor.

If you are investor we can advise you on the tax efficient investments available via the Enterprise Investment Scheme and the Seed EIS for smaller companies.

We will discuss each of the finance options available to you in the context of your unique situation and project.

R&D Tax Credits

Research and Development (R&D) Tax Credits are a Government tax relief rewarding large UK companies and SMEs for investing in innovation. Find out more >R&D Tax Credits

R&D Tax Credits are a key part of the UK Government’s strategy to support innovation >SME eligibility checker

A limited company developing or enhancing new products, processes or services should have a strong case for an R&D Tax Credits claim. A successful claim can help reduce your corporation tax liability or can be claimed as a cash sum.

With claims of up to 130% of qualifying expenditure a typical claim value averages £53.7k.

Many businesses think that what they do, in some cases everyday, won’t qualify for R&D Tax Credits. Many receive a pleasant surprise following our initial consultation. Find out more about our recent projects on our Overcoming uncertainty pages and for more in depth cases visit our client case study pages.

Innovation and overcoming uncertainty: R&D Tax Credit recent client projects

Client cases studies in the food & drink, construction, healthcare and services industries.