Business Plan for Funding
Get a professional business plan for funding to attract angel investors, VCs, or apply for government grants.
The business plan is a strategic document that helps you raise capital for your business. A winning business plan shall present a compelling case for funding with clear description of business goals, strategies and market potential. The business plan will serve as a blueprint, presenting the business’s viability and potential return on investment for investors.
As a businessowner, you can explore multiple funding options based on your needs, stage and goals. The business plan will be tailored to align it with the expectations of prospective investors. For example, you need a tailored business plan to raise capital from angel investors and VCs that proves high capital appreciation. Similarly, if you are requesting funds from the government grant, your business plan needs to be customised to meet the grants public funding objectives.
You can seek funding at various stages of your business lifecycle. Below are the key stages for a company to request additional funding in their business plan:
Business Plan for Seed Funding
Start-ups usually seek seed funding in their business plan to get their business off the ground. As it is the first round of investment, it bears high risks for investors. Therefore, the investors will thoroughly evaluate your business plan for seed funding to validate the product uniqueness, market demand and growth prospects.
As the funding is requested at start-up, the founders’ usually aim for smaller amount of capital ranging from £25,000 to £50,000. On the other side, the seed investors will demand higher percentage of ownership in the business as they accept higher risk presented by a start-up. The business plan should be compelling to successfully attract seed investors.
Business Plan for Series Funding
All subsequent rounds of investments post seed funding are known as series funding. These are normally represented as Series A, B, C… funding rounds, whereas Series A denotates the first round of investment post seed funding. Unlike seed funding, the company’s products or services will be mature at the time of raising series funding, with clear market acceptability and reasonable customer base. Accordingly, the series funding is usually requested to scale the business and accelerate its growth.
In each series funding, the company progressively requests a higher amount of funding as compared to its predecessor round. In exchange, they will be willing to share less percentage of ownership, depending upon the strength of their business. Therefore, the business plan for series funding shall focus on customer traction and growth potential as well as highlight low risk of investment to successfully attract investors.
Business Plan for Funding Template
Don’t know where to start your funding business plan? Download our Business Plan Template from below and get one step closer to securing funding for your business:
Need inspiration to write an impactful business plan? Checkout our business plan samples for funding from the following links:
Business Plan for Angel Investors
Who are Angel Investors?
Angel investors are individuals who provide funding to startups and small-scale businesses. In return, they get a certain percentage of equity/ownership in the funded business. Besides investment, they may bring expertise and valuable industry connections, making significant contribution to your venture’s success.
How to Create a Successful Business Plan for Investors?
To attract investors, begin your business plan with a clear and compelling pitch, highlighting your business idea, investment opportunity and market potential. It is important to provide detailed and authentic market research that shows the market demand and how you intend to exploit it to grow your business.
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Furthermore, when creating a business plan for investors, make sure to provide detailed financial projections and show how the investment will be managed and utilised. You need to be transparent about risks and have a plan to address them. You should also highlight the skills and experience of your team to build investor confidence.
Networking is essential—many investments come through personal connections and trusted referrals. You may consider engaging with industry networks and potential investors early to create funding opportunities.
Here is the best structure to create a successful business plan for investors:
- Executive Summary – Clear, concise overview capturing the business idea, market opportunity and financial highlights.
- Business Model – Explain the company’s key product and services, monetisation strategy and unique value proposition.
- Industry Analysis – Provide data on market size, industry trends, competitive landscape and SWOT analysis.
- Marketing Strategies – Outline the target market, sales channels, key partnerships and advertising strategies.
- Team & Expertise – Introduce founding team, management team and advisors to build trust.
- Operational Planning – highlight the operational requirements to run the business including location and facilities, staffing and resource requirements.
- Financial Projections – Present realistic forecasts, including sales forecast, break-even, profit and loss, cash flow and balance sheet as well as expected return on investment.
- Investment Opportunity – Highlight the funding required, expected returns and why the business is a worthwhile investment.
- Risk Management – Identify key risks and how they will be mitigated.
Exit Strategy – Provide potential pathways for investors to realise returns.
Investor Business Plan Template
Download our investor business plan template designed to kickstart your own business planning process. Create a compelling business plan to draw investors’ attention.
Here are a couple of investor business samples, tailored to attract angel investors. These business plan examples offer great insights, helping you to structure your own business plan.
Business Plan for VC Funding
Who are the VCs?
Venture Capitals (VCs) refer to organisations that specialise in providing funding to early-stage, high-potential start-ups and businesses. In return, they receive a portion of ownership, percentage of which largely depends on the stage of business, expected rate of return and business’s risk profile. Unlike angel investors, VCs prefer to invest in businesses that have strong proof of concept with evidence of early success. Furthermore, VC investments are common in innovation-driven sectors such as technology, biotechnology, and fintech.
How to Create a Successful Business Plan for VC Funding?
To create a successful business plan for VC funding, you shall demonstrate your business potential to generate high growth and profitability. Furthermore, having a strong team with exceptional skill set and background will also help in attracting VC funding.
As VCs prefer to invest in early-stage businesses with a clear proof-of-concept, you shall offer insights into your business journey, key accomplishments and achieved milestones. These accomplishments will prove that you have made satisfactory progress on your business idea, and with injection of fresh capital, your business growth will explode.
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Business planning is a daunting task. Get expert help to complete your business plan in a professional manner. Contact us today and get free consultation on your VC business plan.
The business plan shall also provide detailed analysis on the competitive landscape, helping VCs understand the key differentiating factors. It is helpful to provide a clear roadmap to success in the business plan, including a profitable exit strategy for VCs in 5 years. The business plan shall also contain realistic financial projections, emphasising how you will generate high return on investment.
Here is a detailed step-by-step guide to creating a VC-ready business plan:
- Executive Summary: Briefly outline your business idea, funding requirements, and growth potential to capture VC attention.
- Company Overview: Share your business journey, mission, and vision, focusing on key accomplishments and milestones achieved so far.
- Market Opportunity: Provide insights into the market gaps you intend to fill, in addition to market problems and key solutions offered by your products and services.
- Products and Services/Business Model: Describe your offering, innovation, and future roadmap along with revenue streams and unit economics.
- Industry Analysis: Analyse the industry, identify its size, highlight its historical and forecasted growth and perform SWOT analysis.
- Competitive Analysis: Position your business against competitors and highlight your competitive advantages.
- Marketing & Sales: Highlight customer traction, such as early adopters or pilot results, present strategies for new customer acquisition, retention, and distribution channels, also focus on providing advertising and marketing strategies.
- Operations: Detail your processes, infrastructure, key partnerships, and suppliers.
- Team: Highlight your leadership team, their expertise, and talent gaps to be filled.
- Financials: Include 3-5 years of financial projections (break-even, sales, P&L, cash flow, balance sheet) as well as expected return on investment.
- Risks & Exit Strategy: Address risks and provide clear paths for VCs to exit, such as IPOs or acquisitions.
Venture Capital Business Plan Template
Want to increased chances of your success? Download our venture capital business plan template, offering practical guidance to create an investable proposal.
The following are a few venture business plan samples tailored to attract venture capital investment. These examples demonstrate how to structure a strong business plan for venture capital.
Business Plan for Grant Application
Why Prepare a Business Plan for Government Funding?
Government awards grants to businesses that align with their public funding objectives. There are nearly 130 active grant schemes available on the UK government website. Each grant has its own criteria. For example, some grants are only available to start-ups and SMEs, whereas some schemes are designed for special initiatives such as Innovate UK. The Innovate UK scheme supports businesses that are involved in developing new and commercially viable technologies. Unlike loans, the grants do not have interest or need to be paid back, making it the best option for start-ups and small businesses.
When applying for government funding, you need a strong business plan that demonstrates your business’s viability and sustainability, as well as how it aligns with the grant criteria. Government bodies often seek realistic plans that show how the business will create jobs, boost the economy or solve social issues. This transparency helps grant providers assess risks and ensures your business aligns with their policy goals, increasing your chances of securing funding.
How to Write a Successful Business Plan for Grant Application?
The business plan created for grant application shall clearly explain how your business meets government funding objectives. This includes highlighting how your business meets regional, economic, environmental, or social impact as these are common priority objectives for UK government in most grants. The business plan should also underscore your business’s valuable contribution towards job creation, community development, sustainability, diversity and inclusivity.
Get Your Bespoke Grant Business Plan in Days!
Business planning is a daunting task. Get expert help to complete your business plan in a professional manner. Contact us today and get free consultation on your grant business plan.
Furthermore, your business plan shall demonstrate how the grant funding will help you overcome financial barriers and ensure long-term business success. This requires you to create a realistic five-year financial plan, including a detailed budget explaining how the grant will be allocated. It is also worthwhile to include details on your key milestones, partnerships and collaborations as this will add more to your business creditability. Finally, risk analysis and a plan for sustainability post-funding are vital to assure government that your business can thrive beyond the grant period.
The following is the best layout to create the business plan for grant application:
- Executive Summary: Outline the project, funding needs, and alignment with grant goals like job creation or sustainability.
- Business Overview: Highlight your mission, vision, business history, key achievements and product/service description.
- Project Description: Explain how the funds will be used and the expected economic or social outcomes.
- Market Analysis: Describe your industry size and trends, target market, competition and marketing plan.
- Timeline & Milestones: Key deliverables and deadlines.
- Management Team: Introduce key members and their roles in executing the plan.
- Financial Plan: Create 3-5 years of financial forecast including sales, break-even, P&L, cash flow and balance sheet.
- Impact & Sustainability: Explain the long-term benefits and how you will maintain operations post-grant.
- Risk Analysis: Identify risks and mitigation strategies.
Grant Business Plan Template
Want to increased chances of your success? Download this business plan template that will help you create a winning business plan for government grants.
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Business Plan
TOP Writers specialises in creating business plans tailored towards immigration and investment. Our business plans provide strategic insights to stakeholders, helping them steer the company to success.
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