Funding your Business Guide

Tips on Crowdsourcing • Select a platform you want to use that suits your target audience and goals. • Be realistic about the amount you want to raise. Some platforms allow you to keep what you raise others will only release funds once you have reached your target. • Decide if you want to give equity or rewards and what that looks like to your audience. • Develop your pitch for your donors or investors using eye catching video or animation. • Don’t assume your listing will just generate funders. You will need to have a marketing strategy to reach out to interested parties to generate interest and encourage investment. Peer to Peer Lending (P2P)

platform where investors can lend to borrowers through an online marketplace. Lenders can spread their risks across different loans and borrowers can get more favourable terms, access to cash quicker and better interest rates. Some of the big names in P2P lending platforms are RateSetter, Easy Money and Funding Circle. You still need to have a good credit history and often will need some means to repay such as a salary from a job. As a business they may want some asset as security for their loans. Grant Funding There are a range of potential grants you could consider. These grants are non-repayable funds but will come with some conditions on application. Grants are paid by the government, local councils, or private organisations towards areas such as innovation, R&D, export, job creation or energy related areas such as reducing your carbon footprint. The way grants are funded can also vary. In some cases, the fund can be released on acceptable application, may require you to match fund, or spend your own funds and be reimbursed after.

Peer to Peer lending offers you a means to borrow funds without having to go direct to a bank. These sites offer a