Dr Ricardo Schäfer and Sia Houchangnia from the Seedcamp investment team, were invited to give a lecture at the Oxford University Said Business School, as part of its flagship lecture series Building a Business. The lecture was given to 200 students interested in learning more about starting a business and the key principles of how to do so. The topic of this lecture is on How to Raise Capital.
3. Seedcamp is a Founder’s
First Round Fund.
We invest smart capital into
pre-seed and seed stage startups,
providing up to €200k and a
lifelong platform of Learning,
Network and Capital to support
the most ambitious Founders.
4. #3 most active European investors in H1 2015
Seedcamp platform recognised as a “mini
Andreessen Horowitz” for early stage
Shortlisted as a “Seed Fund of the
Year” in 2015 by GP Bullhound
Recognised by the industry as
a leading early stage fund
5. $350 Million
Total funding raised by
Seedcamp companies since 2007
Some of the top VCs our
companies are raising from
91
87%
89%
6. 1. Fundraising - Overview
2. Fundraising - Key Considerations
3. Fundraising - Timeline
4. Current European Funding
Environment
Agenda
9. Founders’ money,
Friends & Family ~£50K
Business Angels (SEIS),
Accelerators, Crowdfunding
~£50K - 250K
VCs ~£250K - 1M
~£1M - 5MSeries A
Seed
Pre-seed
Friends & Family
round
VCs
Different investors for different stages
Source SizeType of round
Inception
13. Stage Focus
Sector Focus
Geographic Focus
Previous Interactions
Connections with Peers
Invested in Competitors
Fund Cycle
What to consider when researching VCs
14. Don’t forget to track your
communications with potential
investors
Build a fundraising funnel
15. When you pitch to VCs
Storytelling is key
http://seedcamp.com/the-power-of-great-storytelling/
16. 1. One Pager
2. Investor Deck
3. Business Model
4. Cap Table
Things you need
once you start fundraising
17. 1. Problem
- Every innovation needs a problem
- What’s the exact lack in society, industry or technology?
2. Solution
- Show in simple words, pictures or graphics how you
solve the problem or make your customer happy
- What are you doing better then the others or
compared to what already exists?
3. The Market
- Focus on relevant market (geography, age etc)
- Be realistic!
- Market value in $ or €
4. Business Model
- How do you generate revenue: commission, ad-based etc.
5. USP
- Biggest advantage vs competition
- Why is your business unique? for example: technology,
brand, market leader, UX etc..
6. Competition
- Matrix diagram
- Where are you now vs in 5 years?
- Why are you different?
7. Go-to-Market Strategy
- Chanel, conversion rates, cost of acquisition
8. Vision
- Where is the company in the long run?
- Expansion plan (geography, products etc)
9. Team
- Highlight previous relevant experiences
- Quality of team!
10. Financing needs and how you going
to spend the money
- Milestones for next 6-12 (or 18 months)
What to include in a perfect pitch deck
18. Starting too late
Not speaking to enough VCs
Not raising enough
Giving away too much equity early on (>25%)
Overestimating your chances of success
Taking a friend as your lawyer
Keep pushing back your timeline for closing the round
Not disclosing thorny issues up front
Stopping to run the business
The pitfalls of fundraising