Angels, VCs, family offices, crowdfunding and platforms: who funds what
The five kinds of money available to a UK founder, what each one wants, what each one costs you, the cheque sizes, and which to go after at your stage.
"Investors" is not one group. An angel writing a £25k SEIS cheque, a venture fund deploying £2m, a family office, a crowdfunding platform and a matching platform like Find want different things, move at different speeds and cost you different amounts of control. Chasing the wrong kind for your stage is the most common way a raise wastes six months.
Angels
Individuals investing their own money, typically £10k–£100k a cheque, often with SEIS/EIS relief doing much of the work. They decide fast — days to weeks — and back people as much as plans. They add value when they know your market and can introduce customers; they add noise when they want a board seat for £20k. Most first rounds in the UK are angel rounds, and Find is built for them: every certified investor on the platform is, in effect, an angel or a small firm acting like one.
Best for: £100k–£750k rounds, pre-seed and seed, SEIS/EIS-eligible businesses.
Venture capital
Funds investing other people's money to a mandate, usually £500k upward, looking for businesses that can return the whole fund — which means they need a credible path to £100m+ in value. They take months, want a lead position and a board seat, and bring governance with the cheque. If your business could be very large, VC money is cheap in the long run. If it could be a very good £5m business, VCs will say no, and they are right to.
Best for: seed and Series A rounds of £1m+ in software, deep tech, life sciences, marketplaces.
Family offices
The investment arm of a wealthy family. Patient, private, often sector-focused around how the family made its money, cheque sizes from £100k to several million. Hard to find, slow to decide, excellent to have. They appear on Find as certified professional investors, usually without saying who they are until they match.
Best for: profitable or near-profitable businesses, buy-outs, anything with a ten-year horizon.
Crowdfunding
Seedrs, Crowdcube and the rest: hundreds of small investors, a public campaign, a nominee holding the shares. Excellent if your customers are your investors — consumer brands, community businesses — and you have a crowd to bring. Expensive in fees (typically 6–8% of the raise plus completion costs), public if it fails, and it brings hundreds of shareholders who will want updates forever. Note the regulatory difference: crowdfunding platforms are authorised and open to retail investors; Find is not open to retail investors at all.
Best for: consumer businesses with an audience, £150k–£2m.
Matching platforms like Find
Certified investors — angels, small firms, family offices — browsing listings and making the first move. Private, not retail, no campaign, no percentage fee from the founder. The trade-off is that nobody is running your raise for you: you are putting the business in front of people who are looking, and the quality of the listing does the work.
Best for: £100k–£2m rounds from multiple investors, SEIS/EIS businesses, founders who would rather be found than cold-email.
Matching the money to the stage
| Stage | Typical raise | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-seed (idea to first customers) | £50k–£250k | Friends, family, angels, SEIS |
| Seed (revenue, not yet scalable) | £250k–£1.5m | Angels, platforms, micro-VC, EIS |
| Series A (scalable, needs fuel) | £1.5m–£8m | VC, family offices |
| Profitable, wants to grow or sell | £250k–£5m | Family offices, private equity, debt |
Questions founders ask
"Can I mix angels and a VC in one round?"
Yes, and it is common at seed: a VC leads and sets terms, angels fill. The VC's terms will govern; make sure the angels' SEIS/EIS position survives them (preference shares break it).
"Is a platform investor less serious than an angel I met in person?"
No — they are the same people. The difference is that on Find they came to you, certified, having read the listing. That is a warmer start than most introductions.
"What about government money?"
Grants and R&D tax credits sit alongside equity, not instead of it — see grants and R&D alongside equity.