Funding for startups

Funding for startups – secure up to £250,000.

Up to £250,000 funding for startups.

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Life changing competitions

RISK WARNING: INVESTING IN EARLY STAGE BUSINESSES CAN MEAN LOSS OF INVESTMENT, DILUTION AND ILLIQUIDITY. THE START-UP SERIES FUND IS EXCLUSIVELY FOR SOPHISTICATED INVESTORS WHO UNDERSTAND THESE RISKS. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL RISK WARNING.

SECURE UP TO £250,000 OF FUNDING FOR YOUR START-UP

The Start-Up Series is designed to uncover new UK businesses with bright teams & smart ideas. Each month we aim to select one business to qualify for an equity investment of up to £250,000, along with invaluable support from experienced & successful entrepreneurs. In partnership with smallbusiness.co.uk, we’re open for entries from the 1st to the 14th of every month and have developed a quick and easy application process to follow.

#1 ENTRIES

#1 ENTRIES

Simple online entry – just a two page summary or two minute video outlining your business model, market & team.

#2 QUALIFIERS

#2 QUALIFIERS

Comprehensive online business plan submissions followed by telephone interviews with our competition judges for pre-finalists.

#3 FINALISTS

#3 FINALISTS

A half-day deep dive with our team to explore the true potential of your business and properly get to know one another.

#4 WINNER

#4 WINNER

Technical due diligence by our Fund Manager before an investment is made, then publicity & on-going support help to you grow.

Enter the Competition Learn more about the Start-up Series

£207,717

AVERAGE INVESTMENT VALUE

24

MONTHS OF EXPERT MENTORING

£4,154,336

TOTAL FUNDS INVESTED

Client Feedback

  •   “As two immigrant female founders, we feel the subconscious bias in the world of the white male Oxbridge graduates the moment we walk through the doors of some investors…. our research quickly showed you’ve invested in more female founders than many female only VC!”  

    Randa Bennett – Co-founder, VeeLoop

  • What is different about Worth Capital is that you are honest, so thank you and colleagues for your straightforwardness. I appreciate your additional feedback notes which do help.

    Philip de Jong – Co-founder, HousingFind UK (qualifier)

  •   “We’re so excited to have the funding in place to start implementing our business plan, as well as all of the expert external input that comes with a Worth Capital investment.”  

    Joanna James – Co-founder, Bedfolk

  • “Knowing Paul and Matthew and their expertise gave us confidence that they would provide valuable insights and support outside of purely the finance, which is key when choosing an investor."

    Shane Lowe & Alex Haslehurst – Founders, Vitrue Health

  • “Worth Capital appealed to us because they’re not just financiers. It’s very clear to us that they’re actually experienced entrepreneurs, and they had already grown successful companies."

    Helen & Olivia Collins – Co-founders of MYZA

  • “Our deep dive with Paul & Matthew was a highlight of the competition for us. During the four hour meeting not only did they get a good understanding of the business, we received detailed feedback & insight based on their extensive business experience.”

    Andy Roberts – Founder, Weekly10

  • I like the structure of the competitions especially when the winners are judged on their skill and those in judgement are experienced entrepreneurs who themselves have built successful businesses. This approach that looks at both the founders and their management skills along with stress testing the propositions and strategies gave me confidence to invest in the Fund.

    Clive Mishon – serial investor & ex. Chairman of The Institute of Promotional Marketing

  • Having competed with one of Paul’s businesses for 15 years, I’ve now backed him as an investor as I believe the Start-Up Series is an astute way to find high quality investments. The first businesses backed by the Fund would seem to confirm this.

    Sharon Richey – Founder & CEO, Because (global brand experience agency)

  • SEIS offers great tax reliefs, but finding the right deals can be extremely time consuming. The Worth Capital formula is a smart approach to putting together a good portfolio of qualifying deals. Having known and worked with Matthew since 2009, I've been happy to commit to both tranches of the Fund, and look forward to learning the results of my investment.

    Greg Marsh, co-founder & CEO of onefinestay (acquired by Accor Hotels in 2016)

  • We have been delighted to be involved with the Start-Up Series Fund as a product that takes a responsible yet innovative approach to seed investing. It’s not often you come across funds with such a thorough distillation model.

    Derek Smith – Managing Director, Cavendish Ware

COMPETITION CRITERIA

EIS & SEIS ELIGIBLITY

Winners are required to have secured EIS or SEIS assurance from the HMRC before an investment can be made. Winning businesses which are selected for investment will be able to make an application to the HMRC with a letter of intent from Worth Capital. Businesses considering entering the competition need to satisfy the following criteria set by HMRC:

  • You must be a UK resident and run a UK-based business.
  • You must be over 18 years-old at the time of entry / application for advanced assurance.
  • Certain financial services and property businesses are unlikely to qualify.
  • Please visit the HMRC website for further information on eligibility.

OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL

Not every entrepreneur nor innovation deserves to be funded. But every entrepreneur deserves a level playing field when being considered for investment – regardless of gender, location, colour, economic background or beliefs.

As early stage investors we recognise some responsibility for creating rock star company founders that are representative of the society we live in and provide diversity as role models for the next generation of entrepreneurs.

We have a respectable record of funding diversely. Since 2019 38% of our funding has gone to businesses with female founders, 19% to businesses with a BAME founder and 81% to businesses outside the London funding bubble. Visit our diversity & inclusion page to learn more about our performance and the actions we are taking to further improve.

FAIR, CONSISTENT AND OBJECTIVE

As we review our entries and talk to the founding teams, we look for clues across a comprehensive set of criteria. We consider the market you are looking to operate in, your business model, the team who keep the wheels moving, your marketing approach and of course, how excited we get about the overall business ‘idea’. These are the rough weightings we give to each area we explore.

FEEDBACK WE HOPE IS VALUABLE

We love looking at new business ideas. We also hope that our perspective as investors can be useful for businesses that don’t win our competition. So we take time to provide feedback to all applicants. We don’t have much information to go from in the early stage of the competition, so we just send an email picking out something we liked about the business. But as an entrant progresses through our process we provide progressively more detailed feedback on our criteria and what we saw as strengths & weaknesses.

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