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Starting a business can be like throwing dice, but it shouldn't be a gamble just research the investors. The fact is that its never easy to raise your first investment. Right now in the Covid-19 crisis its harder than ever. Many venture Fund Managers are just not investing or if they are they are diverting resources to their existing portfolio of investments as they cope with whatever they have to do to stay solvent and keep on track. Investment activity is just not what it was, look at organisations such as Beauhurst for up to date reports on the investment space. Government loans have helped many businesses but that sad fact is that many startups can not service the loans and are just not yet ready to take on debt as many have little or no revenue while they get going and develop their product or service. Further, the Government "Futures Fund" will only invest where a small business already has had £250,000 of venture investment and then only on a matched fund basis with Angel or other investor. Again this rules out startups. The traditional source of startup capital, the Business Angels are not out there in sufficient numbers, partly for the same reason VC and other fund managers are not, reference my words above. Many regions of the UK do have specialist early stage venture funds. These are good but again demand for them is now so high and they are restricted by EU and other rules so they are just not a sufficient solution. So what do you do if you are starting a business and need longer term, equity, style finance? Well Crowdfunding and Angel groupings are a viable alternative. However, be aware competition is high and you need to really raise at least 30% of your target investment before most will consider you. History has shown them that only really businesses that list with some investment already in the bag hit the target raise others do not... In the end the fundamentals apply. I spend my days here and at my sister company Rivers Capital helping investors find the right business to match their needs and also entrepreneurs and startup reach the investors. So contact me and see if we can help.