PwC to enter the SME scale-up fundraising market

business funding

PwC has launched a series of initiatives intended to help SMEs become investor ready.

The firm’s new service, Raise Investment, is geared towards companies with a £1 million-plus annualised turnover and hoping to secure £1m-£10m in funding. Raise Investment comprises two distinct offerings: Raise | Series A – an eight-week part-time programme to help raise early-stage equity and Raise Investment+; a bespoke one-to-one support package for companies with specific requirements.

PwC’s first Series A programme will be run in collaboration with The Accelerator Network and White Horse Capital. Its aim is to get 10 scale-up businesses investor-ready by way of over 40 hours of masterclass tution, prior to a key investor pitch event with 80+ venture capital firms and family offices.

The first programme will begin in March 2018 and applications are now open.

For SMEs with more bespoke requirements , PwC’s Investment+ offers a tailor-made service. It can assist businesses with areas such as valuation, financial modelling, business plans and calculation and justification of their total addressable market, as well as facilitating introductions to investors.

Glen Waters, Director, said: “Raising funds and finding the right investors are two of the biggest hurdles for SMEs looking to grow their business. Fundraising is time consuming and many small companies simply don’t have the capacity to dedicate the time needed to it while continuing to run their day-to-day activities.”

“Our investor ready services aim to relieve the time pressures placed on SMEs, as well as offering them fast track access to investors.”

“Getting in front of the right venture capital firms and Family Offices is notoriously difficult, but our services will provide a quality assurance that will help to open doors, as well as giving participants access to our networks.”

Katie Lewis, Programme Director of The Accelerator Network, added: “Over the last 6 years we have run over 30 accelerator programmes for ambitious startups, supporting thousands of startups, and helping them secure hundreds of millions of pounds of seed funding. We are excited to join this consortium to apply our high impact business acceleration methodology to companies who are now beyond their seed funding rounds, preparing for VC funding.”

Raise Investment is the latest in a series of offerings from PwC that are designed to support startups and scale-ups.

You can find out more about PwC’s other solutions for small and growing businesses here: https://www.pwc.co.uk/demandmore