Business Butler Blog - funding

Entrepreneurship isn’t for the faint hearted. In fact, the rocky road to owning a thriving business is fraught with danger, risks, demands and complications.

And if that hasn’t put you off, this might. Because the ugly truth is that 20 percent of...

Startup founders in the UK have raised concerns that access to funding is proving difficult as prospective lenders are becoming frugal with their finances. All businesses are facing challenges with escalating costs and an unstable economy but startups are not as robust as established companies and are more susceptible to the effects of the recession. This is alarming because a lack of funding i...

With businesses still reeling from the difficult trading conditions during the past two years, the British Business Bank has revealed details of the scale of funding that’s been provided to SMEs in Wales in the form of recovery loans.

Post-pandemic recovery

With the cost of living escalating upwards it was refreshing to read that the luxury motor company Rolls-Royce is paying their staff £2,000 to help with the economic crisis. The engineering firm has said that it’s the first ever payment they have made that isn’t performance related but rather due to the economic climate.

Funding is such an important step for any business, especially for startups. The early years of a business are arguably the most important and going through them without any funding is one of the major reasons why so many startups end up failing. Being able to access some level of funding can help startup companies tenfold and can also help secure some level of longevity for the business.

Payments made from the government’s Covid emergency lending programme to fraudulent companies will cost taxpayers £4.9 billion. The funding was essential to safeguard millions of jobs and keep businesses afloat but in the rush to make the credit available it appears that fraud prevention measures were not implemented in time.

Concerns were raised before launch

The g...

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak was never going to be able to please everyone with his autumn budget and there were always going to be winners and losers, but let’s have a look at the key points for businesses from his budget statement.

The Chancellor confirmed that the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) anticipates that the UK economy will grow by 6.5 per cent this year ...

The first annual Regions and Nations Tracker published by the British Business Bank has revealed alarming regional disparities in accessing equity finance and private debt in the UK.

Although more than 40% of businesses were accessing external finance in 2021, the lack of local investors in certain areas means that there are lost economic opportunities across the UKs regions and nations.<...

The furlough scheme, which has safeguarded millions of jobs during the past 18 months, finally closed at the end of September. The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, as it was officially known, was launched in April 2020 when large parts of the UK economy were forced to close because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Under the scheme, the government contributed up to a maximum if £2,500 per month ...

Getting the right kind of funding for your startup is a challenge. You have to find it, get approved, and then use it wisely. But there are many mistakes that too many founders make when they're trying to get their company off the ground. In this post we'll cover 7 key mistakes you should avoid so you can raise enough money for your startup without sacrificing any equity or valuable resources.<...

The most pressing issue facing startups today is a lack of finance and almost 30% fail every year in the UK because of this. With that in mind it is imperative that when you are looking for investment you give yourself the best opportunity of success by being totally prepared for the whole process.

Pitching your business to potential investors can be daunting. Any type of business present...

A Guest Blog by Ian Tovey, Funding Expert

A saying heard countless times during my long career in commercial banking and finance and one that is particularly apposite as businesses emerge from the turbulent last 12 months or so!

Its probably fair to say that all businesses will have been affected by the impact coronavirus, both positively and negatively and their wo...

The number one factor that inhibits startups from growing is a lack of funding. In fact this is the primary cause of new businesses being unable to open in the first place and can be a crushing blow to many budding entrepreneurs dreams. So, if you have just launched your startup, what are your options and where can you go to get your hands on that all important funding?

Grants

It is that time of year when the clocks have just turned back, the nights are drawing in and children across the country start to feel a little bit frightened as Halloween fast approaches.

However, this year millions of adults are also filled with fear and it’s not down to the ghosts and ghouls of Halloween. No, this is fear of the unknown because the end of October marks the end of ...

The UK government’s approach to coronavirus support for businesses during the 2020 pandemic has been admirable. The Job Retention Scheme was the first to be launched and was the most inclusive, safeguarding the jobs of almost nine million workers. This was followed by a variety of business support grants, loans and rates relief schemes devised to help businesses of all sizes and across all sect...

Bounce back is a phrase that you will hopefully be hearing a lot more of during the coming months, whether it is in relation to the economy improving, businesses trading again or inspirational stories of survivors of Covid-19. But at the moment you are more likely to hear it in relation to funding because the Bounce Back Loan Scheme is the latest government initiative to help small businesses t...

When the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) was first launched last month, it was welcomed with open arms by businesses across the UK. However, it soon became apparent that the CBILS was not the panacea that businesses hoped it would be and it wasn’t long before the scheme started attracting criticism.

In response to this, Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, r...

The loudest noise heard on Thursday was at 8:00 pm when applause for the Clap For Our Carers campaign supporting our valiant NHS staff reverberated throughout the UK. But the cheers from millions of self-employed workers a few hours earlier were not too far behind on the decibel scale.

This eagerly awaited announcement was exactly what the nation’s self-employed have been patiently waitin...

The first question on everyone’s lips during the coronavirus pandemic is will my loved ones be OK? Or, depending on the person’s disposition, maybe it is, will I be OK? Your health is definitely more important than money but following on from your primary concern your mind will then become inundated with questions about money, or the lack of it.

Where will my next pay check come from and ...

With business owners throughout the country unsure of what the future holds it is reassuring to know that the Welsh Government has pledged to invest almost £1.4 billion to help businesses during the Coronavirus crisis.

You may wonder why businesses in Wales were not included in the initial statement from Chancellor Rishi Sunak but that is due to the fact that business rates and small busi...