What can't be listed on Find, and why
The businesses and structures that fall outside the platform — property development, funds, crypto, anything needing FCA permission itself, and raises outside £100k–£2m — with the reasons, and where those founders should go instead.
Find exists to match UK trading businesses with certified investors, under a specific set of rules. Some good businesses fall outside those rules, not because they are bad but because listing them would put the platform, the investor or the founder on the wrong side of the regulations. Here is what we do not list, why, and where to go instead.
Property development and investment
A company raising to buy, develop or let property is raising for an investment in land, not a trade. It is excluded from SEIS/EIS, it attracts different regulation (collective investment concerns if several investors pool into property), and the investors who fund it are a different community with their own platforms. A trading business that happens to own its premises is fine; a property vehicle is not.
Funds, pools and anything collective
A company whose purpose is to invest other people's money — in anything — is a collective investment scheme or an alternative investment fund, which needs an authorised manager. Find does not list them. Founder Capital's own acquisition vehicles appear because each is a single-purpose company making one acquisition, not a pool, and each is approved as such.
Anything that needs FCA permission itself
Lending to consumers, payments, investment advice, insurance distribution, crypto-asset services. A business that needs authorisation to trade cannot be listed until it has it, because an investor cannot assess a business whose core activity is not yet lawful. Fintech businesses that operate under an existing authorised firm's umbrella, or that provide software to regulated firms without doing regulated activity themselves, are fine — say which you are.
Crypto-assets and tokens
Not listed. Token raises are financial promotions of a kind the platform is not set up to approve, and most are excluded from SEIS/EIS in any case.
Raises outside £100k–£2m
Below £100k: friends, family, Start Up Loans and a bank are faster and cheaper than a platform raise; the listing effort is not worth it. Above £2m: institutional territory, with a process and investor base Find is not built for. A £3m round that is genuinely £1.5m from platform investors and £1.5m from a lead fund can be listed for the platform portion — say so.
Businesses without a UK company
Find lists UK limited companies and LLPs. Sole traders should incorporate first (investors cannot buy shares in a person). Overseas companies with a UK subsidiary can list the subsidiary if that is where the trade and the investment sit.
Listings that will be sent back
- Promised returns. "Target return 25% a year" is a financial promotion the platform will not approve. Say what the business does and what the raise buys; investors form their own view.
- Guaranteed exits, buy-back promises, "risk-free".
- Claims you cannot evidence — "market leader", "patented" without the patent, "£2m contracted" without the contract.
- Listings for businesses the founder does not control or have authority to raise for.
Where to go instead
Property: specialist property crowdfunding and development lenders. Funds: a regulatory host or an authorised manager. Fintech needing permission: get the permission, or an appointed-representative arrangement, then list. Under £100k: the Start Up Loans scheme and your bank. Over £2m: a corporate finance adviser and the venture funds.
Questions founders ask
"We're a café that wants to buy its building. Is that property?"
No — a trading business acquiring its own premises is a trading business. The raise should be for the trade, with the property as a use of funds; a secured loan is often the better instrument for the building itself.
"We provide software to IFAs. Are we 'financial services'?"
Providing software to regulated firms is not itself regulated, and qualifies for SEIS/EIS. Doing the regulated thing — giving advice, arranging — is. The line is what your company does, not who it sells to.
"Our raise is £80k. Can we round it up to £100k?"
Only if the plan genuinely needs £100k. Raising more than you need to fit a platform is the wrong reason, and investors will ask what the extra is for.
More in By sector
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