Making An Application
Before submitting an application you may wish to check that you meet the South West Ventures Fund Investment Criteria (LINK) set out in the About the Fund section of this website.
Applications to The South West Ventures Fund are accepted in the form of a Business Plan or a web application.
Please click here for a comprehensive list of the topics and issues that you may wish to cover in your Business Plan.
Investment Process
• Stage 1 – business plan or web application review
• Stage 2 - presentation meeting
• Stage 3 - assessment, deal structuring and submission
• Stage 4 - approval and offer
• Stage 5 - due diligence & legals
• Stage 6 - completion
• Stage 7 - post-investment monitoring
• Stage 8 - the exit
Stage 1 – Business Plan or Web Application Review
Our investment team will review the investment proposal outline you submit. We aim to contact you within 10 working days with an initial decision:• If you are not successful, we will let you know by email or telephone
Stage 2 - presentation meeting
If your proposal appears to meet our criteria, we will arrange a meeting at our offices. This will be attended by at least two members of our team and should be attended by as many of your team as needed to give a full picture of your company.
The meeting will last for about an hour and commences with a structured presentation from yourselves for about 15 minutes, followed by questions.
Following this initial meeting we will normally let you know by telephone within 5 working days if we wish to proceed further with your proposal.
Stage 3 - assessment, deal structuring and submission
From this point onwards, we will assess the key parameters of your business which will usually involve:
• Provision by yourselves of detailed information about your company;
• At least two meetings to discuss commercial and financial aspects of your business, one of which will be at your premises so we can meet your full team;
• Discussion and agreement of the structure of an investment with you and your advisers.
Having agreed the basis and structure of an investment, the investment manager leading the deal will prepare an initial investment case for discussion within YFM Venture Finance.
Stage 4 - approval and offer
If the outcome of these discussions is positive a conditional offer letter will be written to the company outlining the terms and conditions of the offer
On acceptance of the offer, the company must pay a commitment fee of 1% of the investment value.
Stage 5 - due diligence & legals
Commercial and financial due diligence is undertaken to confirm the accuracy of the information that has been supplied. Due diligence involves the examination of your company by external experts and industry specialists and professional accountants are used. The reports will typically contain several recommendations to help improve the performance of your business going forwards.
At this stage, the Investment Manager will submit a formal submission to the YFM Venture Finance Investment Committee.
Completion of the investment will only occur if the results of the due diligence work are satisfactory. Legal documentation will be drawn up as part of the process and you will be asked to warrant the information provided to us.
Costs of the due diligence and legal process will be paid out of the investment.
Stage 6 - completion
At completion of South West Ventures Fund's investment, cash will be invested into your company in exchange for the agreed combination of shares, loans, options etc. It may be that we will require certain conditions to be met by the company at or after completion, and the investment may be made subject to the fulfilment of these conditions.
Stage 7 - post-investment monitoring
A condition of the investment is that your company has adequate financial systems and controls. Each investee company will be expected to provide regular reports on business and financial progress - including cashflow projections, management accounts and audited financial statements. We will typically appoint a Non-Executive Director to the board of the company to provide support and advice to the executive directors. The NED will usually have relevant industry experience or perhaps a skillset that existing directors do not possess.
Stage 8 - the exit
Our objective is always to sell our shares in our investee companies at a significant capital gain, usually within 3 to 5 years. Our investments are structured to encourage a sale of our shares (the "exit") within this time frame and the agreement and implementation of an exit strategy is key for all companies we back. We will assist your company in identifying and focussing on an optimal exit route.
Tme taken for investment process
The time taken to progress an enquiry from stage 2 to stage 6 will vary from investment to investment but in our experience it will typically take 3-4 months, largely dependent on the availability of information. You can help minimise the time taken by making the information we need available in a timely and accurate manner, assisting us in finding industry experts and by using experienced professional advisers where appropriate e.g. working with lawyers with experience of VC deals.