How to Raise Seed Funds and Venture Capital (VC) in Ireland

How to
Raise Seed
Funds & Venture
Capital (VC)
in Ireland

You want funds
to grow your
business?

Investors have
expectations
even Business Angels
are not Santa

Investors want their money
back with a considerable return
for them

The higher the risk, the greater
the return expected

First of all, consider if you really
want to grow? There are
consequences to growth …

Having an equity
investor on board
means:

You will no longer make all key
decisions yourself

decisions yourself
You have to account
for company performance
to someone else

decisions yourself
You have to account
for company performance
to someone else
One day you are
expected to “exit”
(sell your whole business)

It’s all about the
money.
If you want to grow a
large company, this may
be the way to do it.

Because even owning
only 5% of €100m
company (€5m)
is better than
100% of €0.5m
company
(only €0.5m)
100%

5%

In some cases, it may be
possible to grow without
external funding.
But to do so you’ve got to be really, really
outstanding amongst top competition to
make that work!

Top 3 requirements for a
company to be successful
at fund raising

A Large Growth Market
must Exist
and you must be capable of
accessing that market

Customers are the
ultimate validation
Business awards and column
inches are great, but someone
has got to pay for
your ‘stuﬀ’ –
otherwise it literally
has no value

Your sales process
needs to be scalable
And not
dependent on one
person or a small
number of people.

Teams build successful
companies, not technology
Delivery on the business plan will
be the responsibility of the team.

Money is a commodity.
Knowledge is not.
Do you have expertise and
track record that is not
easily replicated?

Money is a commodity.
Knowledge is not.
Do you have expertise and
track record that is not
easily replicated?
Your team should bring
experience and expertise.
Money is always just money.
(Although Ts & Cs apply)

Before you leave the
building to ﬁnd an
investor be clear on…

Spend.
What are you going to spend
the money on? Speciﬁcally.
Not vague things like
“salaries” and deﬁnitely not
“contingency”

Spend.
“contingency”

Solvency.
How are you going to remain
solvent until you have the
funds in?

Spend.
“contingency”

Solvency.
funds in?

How Much.
How much money do you
need as capital investment
and when?

Spend.

How Much.

“contingency”

How much money do you
need as capital investment
and when?

Solvency.

ROI.

funds in?

What returns are going to be
generated by this
investment?

Raising funds is like running
a race.
Most of the time that it takes
to win a race is spent
in the training
beforehand.

Raising funds is like running
a race.
Similarly, an investor
proposition takes
time to develop, ﬁne
tune and rehearse
before you approach
investors

Start-Up
Capital

Seed
Capital

Series
A

Series
B

Start-Up capital is the ﬁrst capital for a
business at concept stage.
This ﬁnance is normally provided by friends, family and
founders. It is a very high risk investment at this stage.

Start-Up
Capital

Seed
Capital

Series
A

Series
B

The business has a proven product, has
identiﬁed their market and may have
early revenues.
It’s still a high risk investment and the business is now
seeking a model for repeatable, scalable expansion

Start-Up
Capital

Seed
Capital

Series
A

Series
B

Development capital for businesses with a
proven market, product / market ﬁt
The company is developing and reﬁning their Customer
Acquisition Costs, and investment risk is now mainly in
the area of business execution

Start-Up
Capital

Seed
Capital

Series
A

Series
B

Expansion funding for established
companies, with no execution risk and
known Customer Acquisition Costs.

Ideally a business will partner with a
VC from the outset who would be
able to fund them through multiple
rounds, all the way through to exit.

How to win:
AWESO
ME
Develop an
Investor Proposition

VCs only invest in 2 out of
every 100 pitches.
Your investor proposition needs to demonstrate
that your company is capable and likely to
provide a return for your investors.

Investors probably make up their
minds in 20 minutes…


…but may take a few months to
tell you (in a formal term sheet)


…but may take a few months to
tell you (in a formal term sheet)

That’s why it’s important to have a
clear story before you meet
investors. First impressions count.

The process is just as important
as the outcome when developing
investor documents.
It is all great training
for your pitches.

The more you know, the more
conﬁdent you are and the more
investable you become.
You need to be comfortable
with what you don’t
know, as well as what
you do.

There are some
documents you will
absolutely need.

Documents you will need,
And I can help you perfect:
1. Forecasts
(3 years Proﬁt and Loss Accounts, Cash Flow,
Balance Sheets)
We may build a business model to simulate how
your business works – spreadsheets which
translate your strategy and tactics into numbers.
The work that goes into specifying how you plan
to expand is what is key.

Documents you will need,
And I can help you perfect:
2. One Pager

What your company does
and why it’s investible

3. Slide deck

To summarise your investor
proposition

4. Investor
Memorandum

A type of business plan,
giving all key information
for an investor

Corporate
planning

Investor
messaging

Identify big issues: tax
corporate structure,
accounting, ﬁnance and
legal.

Jargon busting and
translation into “what
does this mean for
us?”

(You might need
specialist advisors)

(I can help you to
master the lingo)

Investors want to own a % of
your company for their
investment. This is dependent on
what the company is worth to
them.

€2 million for
25% stake

Means your
company is
worth €8
million

There isn’t a one size-ﬁts-all
formula for calculating the value
of a company.
So you should ‘shop around’ to
ﬁnd the deal that works best for
all parties.

The clock is ticking.
Push for the truth early
on and waste no time.
Ask about their
process, their funds
and their timelines.

A few more things
to think about…

Future
expansion.
Can this investor fund
future equity ﬁnancing
rounds?

Future
expansion.
rounds?

Term sheet.
How are you going to
remain solvent until you
have the funds in? What
are the consequences of
the terms?

Future
expansion.
rounds?

Term sheet.
the terms?

Due diligence.
Investors will (should) do a
deep audit of the
company’s legal, ﬁnancial
and operational segments.

Future
expansion.
rounds?

Term sheet.
the terms?

Due diligence.
Investors will (should) do a
deep audit of the
company’s legal, ﬁnancial
and operational segments.

Two way street.
You can do due diligence
on your investors by
checking with other clients

Pﬀt, this
sounds easy…
I could do
this myself

Can you do all that
stuﬀ yourself? Really?

Maybe, some of it.
But even if you can…
Is it a good use of
your time?

You need to be
closing customer
deals & keep
momentum
going in building
the business

You aren’t going to
raise equity many
times, but when you
do, it is literally worth
doing it right

That’s where
I can help!
ins ire)
us dina
Co traor
len isor ex
He v
(sta

p ad
rtu

We have helped Irish
companies to raise over

€30 million

My associates and I have
over 50 years combined
experience in corporate
ﬁnance, fundraising and
delivering tech company
growth.
(From the inside as well as being advisors)

Warning:
I will be honest with you
and I will challenge you.

The focus is on winning
and this requires
commitment and hard
work from you too!

FIVE Things
I can help you with

Calculate and capture your value
proposition in investor documents

Source appropriate investors and assist
with Enterprise Ireland as needed

Manage the funding round and support
you through pitches

you through pitches
Negotiate terms and guide you through
closing the legal documents

you through pitches
Negotiate terms and guide you through
closing the legal documents
Oversee due diligence, close the round
and bring in the funds

Get in touch today!
Click here to talk to me on Twitter
Click here to connect on LinkedIn

@

helen@xbs.ie
Or call me +353 (0) 86 325 5665

www.xbs.ie

How to Raise Seed Funds and Venture Capital (VC) in Ireland

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