The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) are government initiatives offering some of the most attractive tax breaks available in the UK. The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) provides tax incentives in the form of a variety of income tax and capital gains tax reliefs to investors who invest in smaller, unquoted, trading companies...
We are often asked what the key elements of a successful funding campaign are. In truth, there is no secret formula and every campaign is different. Financially speaking, below are some of the key things that investors look at when considering investment into a business...
Investors unfortunately will understand the difficulties, sometimes, associated with contacting the start-up or early stage company they are investing money into. For the investor, there can be miscommunication, it can be hard to maintain voting rights, and there are often no investor...
Definition: Angel (also known as private) investing is equity finance. An angel investor is a high net worth individual who makes use of their personal disposable finance to invest into start-up and early stage business opportunities. The investor would normally take shares...
Proof of concept is the evidence, typically deriving from an experiment or pilot project, which demonstrates that a design concept, business proposal, etc. is feasible. In the field of business, proof-of-concept helps to establish the viability of a commercial idea. It isolates potential issues and helps founders and possible investors understand the overall direction of the business.
Read MoreDefinition: Valuation is an estimation of the worth of something, especially one carried out by a professional valuer. In the startup funding world, pre-money valuation refers to the value of a company not including external funding or the latest round of funding. In contrast, post-money includes outside financing or the latest capital injection..
Read MoreDefinition: EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme) and SEIS (Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme) are tax efficient investing schemes created by the UK government to encourage direct investment into early stage businesses. Private investors into early stage businesses in the UK can partially offset..
Read MoreDefinition: Value proposition refers to a business or marketing statement that a company uses to summarise why a consumer should buy a product or use a service. This statement convinces a potential consumer that one product or service will add more value or better solve a problem than other similar offerings will. Building a great product does not necessarily...
Read MoreSetting up a tech business can be a relatively quick process. In the run-up to launch, key legal issues, which ideally should be addressed at an early stage, can easily be overlooked. However, it is important to bear the following issues in mind from the outset, to minimise risk and maximise the value of your investment. Structure of the business...
Read MoreEvery business will own some sort of intellectual property. It could be anything from the product, service, designs, creative branding or know-how. Surprisingly, many businesses fail to protect their assets in the early stages. Before they know it, their intellectual property has been stolen and their reputation damaged. Ownership of IP rights is a neglected aspect of running a business. But when it comes to...
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