You want to launch your business? It will require you to mobilize financial and material means. Using investors can be a good solution. You will first need to determine your start-up needs, identify those who might be interested in your project, create a detailed and appropriate presentation and be prepared to answer questions with confidence. Here are some tips on how to find investors.
Advimotion is a financial advisory firm that assists startups and SMEs in obtaining non-dilutive financing and equity fundraising. We also act as advisors in corporate divestiture transactions to best represent the interests of sellers.
We offer strategic consulting and outsourced CFO services to ensure the financial and operational monitoring of your business. Finally, we take care of the drafting of investor documentation : business plan, pitch deck, creation of reporting files and valuation calculations.
For more information, please contact us.
Contacting Solidarity Venture Capital Organizations
Venture capital simply allows young companies to increase their equity capital. Solidarity-based venture capital organizations accompany and monitor the creation of local businesses. So don’t hesitate to do your research and contact local organizations before starting your business. Here is a non-exhaustive list of organizations :
- CIGALES (Club d’Investisseurs pour la Gestion Alternative et Locale de l’Épargne Solidaire) which, as its name indicates, finances small and medium-sized business projects and accompanies them in their launch. They generally receive a financial contribution of €1,500 to €5,000 for 5 years. The CIGALES club can be found almost everywhere in France ;
- Garrigue is a citizen’s cooperative supporting the creation and development of small businesses that put people and the environment at the heart of their activity. The organization takes minority participations in capital and contribution in current account of associate. Their amounts vary between 20 000 and 40 000 € during 5 to 7 years;
- Autonomie & Solidarité is a regional venture capital company supporting mainly companies located in Hauts-de-France in order to create jobs in the region.
Try crowdfunding to launch your business
Crowdfunding, or participatory financing, allows anyone to appeal to a large number of people to finance a project (humanitarian mission, book publishing, real estate development, business creation, etc.).
It is the easiest way to find investors without taking a huge risk or diluting all the shares of your company. This is why many entrepreneurs use this type of financing to launch their business. There are three forms of financing : a loan, a subscription to equity securities issued by your company or a contribution that may have a counterpart.
Go to funding platforms to indicate the launch of your business and subsequently get an investment. Here are some platforms regulated in France and specialized in business lending:
- Unilend ;
- Credit.fr ;
- Lendix ;
- Lendopolis ;
- PretUp ;
- Etc.
Approach banks and credit institutions
This is often the most obvious solution to find investors to finance part of the assets of your company. However, you must meet certain conditions to hope to be financed by the banks:
- To present assets to be financed;
- Justify the credibility and the viability of your business project by analyzing the market, the sector, etc. beforehand;
- Make an equity contribution to ensure a fair distribution of financial risks between the bank and the project holders.
As you will have understood, banks and credit institutions are often complementary investors in order to launch a business.
Meet with public agencies to launch your business
Finally, you can ask for financial help from public organizations to launch your business. You can contact Bpifrance or France Invest.
Bpifrance (Banque Publique d’Investissement) is an organization that supports financially and accompanies the development of companies. It tends to offer many solutions of accompaniment, a participation in the capital, financing. Bpifrance also has a division entirely dedicated to investments.
France Invest, formerly AFIC (Association française des investisseurs pour la croissance), is an association that brings together French investment companies such as FCPIs (Fonds communs de placement Innovation), FIPs (Fonds d’investissement de Proximité), management and consulting companies, funds of funds, SCRs and FCPRs.
You can also ask to benefit from aid granted by Pôle Emploi. You can try to obtain subsidies made available to companies by the State and the European Commission.
A good preparation before acting to launch your business
You must write your business plan in a complete way so that it includes all the elements necessary to evaluate the potential of your project. Your business plan should include a market study explaining why the market is growing and promising, a competitive study, a presentation of your team, your strategy and action plan, your ambitions, financial forecasts and the reasons to invest.
Put yourself in the investor’s shoes and ask the right questions in order to be convincing when you talk about your project. You must have a critical eye on your business.
You can ask yourself if the return on investment is guaranteed and this, in a fast way ? Is the team united, complementary and in agreement with the project ? What are the weak points and threats of the project ?
It is essential to avoid overbidding and to evaluate your project as fairly as possible. Favouring lower evaluations without being pessimistic is preferable to over-evaluating the company.
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