finnCap Ambition Nation Scale-up Report Reveals Mid-Sized Businesses' Expansion Plans Are Impacted by Inability to Access Capital, and Lack of Government Support

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finnCap

01 Oct, 2018, 13:09 BST

LONDON, October 1, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Key findings show a significant increase in the number of businesses looking for more advice and support to scale their business today compared to a year ago

These critical scale up issues will debated at the finnCap Ambition Nation Summit held in London later this week

Mid-sized firms' growth has been stalled by a lack of funding options and Government support, compared to that provided to start-ups, though Brexit is not considered a hurdle to securing such funding. There is a significant increase in the number of businesses looking for more advice and support to scale their business today compared to a year ago and strategic support and practical boardroom guidance to navigate a more complex investment landscape is viewed as important as accessing scale-up capital.

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These are the key findings of the finnCap Ambition Nation Understanding the Scale-Up Challenge report, which is based on interviews with 1,500 business leaders from companies with turnover of between £20m and £250m, across a range of different sectors and geographic regions in the UK. The report's findings, along with other relevant scale-up issues, will be discussed at the finnCap Ambition Nation Summit, which will take place on Wednesday 3rd October.

Highlights:  

  • Some 70% of SMEs did not feel there was enough support for them to secure scale up funding
  • Over 50% thought mid-sized businesses have fewer scale-up funding options than start-ups
  • Some 60% think that SMEs get less Government support than start-ups
  • About 65% said they were looking for more help to scale up over the next 12 months
  • Around 55% believe Brexit will have no significant impact on their ability to scale up

Start-ups trump scale-ups on funding options 

The report shows there are growing levels of concern among mid-sized businesses on the challenges to secure larger levels of investment, with more than half of mid-sized businesses believe they have fewer funding options than start-ups. Respondents also think that the funding process at the mid-level is 'opaque and overly complicated' and that it is hard to make like-for like comparisons for different funding options.

More strategic help and advice needed  

The report shows that UK business leaders are having to manage both growth and survival challenges simultaneously, which is reflected in the type of help and advice they are seeking. Access to scale-up funding and navigating the investment ecosystem remain the primary concerns among business leaders, however areas cited where broader strategic support is required include advice to effectively manage cyber-security risks and GDPR, legal protection and IP, and hire and train staff, including business leaders.

Brexit fears downplayed 

The results of this study show that the majority of UK business leaders believe that Brexit will have no significant impact on their ability to scale up their businesses. However, close to 30% believed that it would have either a negative or very negative impact on their growth plans.

Ambition Nation Summit 

The finnCap Ambition Nation Summit will gather together leading CEOs from high-profile growth business as well as senior corporate executives, advisers, venture and private equity professionals to debate key business growth issues and at which the findings of the report will also be discussed.

The Summit will take place at 8.30-11am on Wednesday 3rd October at Landing 42, 122 Leadenhall St, London EC3V 4AB. Please sign up via Eventbrite.

Sam Smith, CEO of finnCap and opening speaker at the Ambition Nation summit, will say: "The findings in the finnCap Ambition Nation Scale Up Challenge report show a very real concern among businesses about access to funding and the need to get help and advice to navigate the increasingly complex landscape that is particularly prevalent at this level. To try to understand more about these business' funding challenges, we established Ambition Nation to open up a dialogue between seasoned business leaders to showcase stories of ambition and success, articulate how they overcame their challenges to communicate their knowledge of the funding landscape to the next generation of entrepreneurs with the information that makes those crucial growth decisions easier."

About finnCap

finnCap advises ambitious growth companies, helps companies access growth capital and promotes their stories across public and private markets.

Using the team's wide ranging expertise across multiple sectors, finnCap shapes companies and products into an effective investment story. As a modern entrepreneurial business, we help to fuel faster growth, build value and are trusted to deliver success for businesses at every stage of their journey. Through delivering certainty, finnCap inspires confidence, energy and the determination to grow. This is the reason finnCap is the largest advisor to ambitious growth companies and the No. 1 broker on AIM.

Contact details:  
Morgan Rossiter 
Richard Morgan Evans / Tania Wild / James Gittings  
+44(0)203-195-3240, ambitionnation@morganrossiter.com