5 benefits of equity finance for growing businesses – British Business Bank

The number of UK equity investment deals is steadily rising each year, according to Beauhurst, a searchable database of the UK’s fastest-growing startups and scale-ups.

In total, 2017 equity investment deals were up on 2016, with the amount of cash invested also growing by 113% over the same period.

But why should businesses consider equity as an option to fund their growth plans?

Businesses want to grow for a variety of reasons – to invest in R&D, to enter new markets, to refinance and many more. There’s an equity match out there for each and every growth ambition.

From Angels giving a new business its first piece of funding, to floating your business on the public markets, there’s an equity option out there to suit the needs of rapidly growing businesses.

Businesses can position themselves on this simple scale to understand where they might fit in:

• Angel Investment – invest £15k-£2m in early stage companies
• Venture Capital – invest £2m-£20m in early stage companies
• Expansion Capital – invest £5m-£100m in profitable and growing companies
• Private Equity – invest £10m-£50m in profitable, mature companies
• IPO – a platform for unlimited equity capital raises from £5m to over £1bn

So if your business is in a position to grow, equity finance could be within your grasp and help you achieve your growth ambitions.