Initiative · Goal
Securing financing
Raising money is an exam. The questions are no secret.
Preparing financing from banks, investors or funding programmes: business plan, financial model, funding applications and liquidity planning.
The situation
“We need money for our next step.”
The next step is clear: a machine, a new site, a bigger team. Only the money for it isn't there yet, and day-to-day business leaves little time for lengthy preparation.
The bank asks for a business plan, the funding body for a financing plan, a fund for a model with scenarios. Your tax adviser's reports show last year, not the years ahead. And every party has its own deadlines, forms and favourite questions.
Where it often goes wrong.
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Looking only when money's tight
Go to the bank once the account is running low, and you negotiate from the weakest position. Good documents need lead time, and so do approvals.
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One plan for everyone
The same plan goes to bank, fund and funding body. Yet the bank asks about collateral and debt service, the fund about growth, the funding body about eligibility.
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Assumptions without a source
Revenue doubles, costs stay flat, everyone pays on time: assumptions like these fall at the first follow-up question. What holds up is what orders, quotes or market data can back.
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Applying after buying
Many funding programmes require the application before the project starts. If you've already ordered or signed, you may come away empty-handed.
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Approved isn't paid out
Grants are often paid only once the spending is proven, loans sometimes in tranches. Without a cash plan for the time in between, the financing itself becomes the bottleneck.
Which disciplines work together here.
2 of 13 disciplines, one team, one point of contact. Every service has a clear role, and you decide which ones we take on.
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D11 Finance & Accounting
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Builds the integrated model and writes the business plan for bank, fund or funding body.
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Checks which grants, subsidised loans and guarantees fit, and prepares the applications in good time.
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Plans liquidity beyond the payout and finds cash tied up in the business.
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Provides the planning and reporting that banks and funds expect to see throughout the term.
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D04 Consulting
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Clarifies what the money is for and which strategy justifies the figures in the plan.
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You decide the scope.
Sometimes a finished plan just needs a second look before it goes to the bank. Or you first need an overview of which funding programmes fit at all. If you're right at the start, you get model, plan, applications and cash planning from one team.
Good questions. Straight answers.
Do you broker loans or equity too?
No. We broker neither loans nor equity. We prepare and accompany: documents, meetings, follow-up questions.
Which bank or fund suits you is something we discuss openly. Your own bank is often the first port of call, but whom you approach is your decision.
Will you tell us honestly whether we're fundable?
Yes, before you submit anything. If plan, collateral and own funds don't fit together, you hear it from us first, not from the bank.
Only the other side can commit: bank, fund or funding body. What we're responsible for is complete, consistent documents.
Will you come to the meeting with the bank?
Yes, gladly. We prepare the meeting with you, join it if you like and answer questions on the model and planning. You lead the negotiation, because it's your company and your signature.
Follow-up questions usually come after the meeting. We answer them together, so the answers and the model match.
Can loans and public funding be combined?
Yes, and quite often. In Germany, subsidised loans usually go through your own bank. Grants add to your own funds, and guarantees secure loans.
We check what suits your plan and time the applications and the loan so they fit together.
Might we end up needing less money?
Sometimes, yes. Cash is often tied up in open invoices, full warehouses or bills paid too early. Whatever gets freed up there needs neither financing nor interest.
That's why we look at working capital before the financing need is fixed.
Proof first. Contract second.
In the free Initiative Check, we listen for 45 minutes and ask the questions that usually only come up after the contract is signed. Then you get a short written assessment: what we see, how we would go about it and roughly what it would take.
No obligation. And if we're not the right fit, we'll tell you.
Or write to us at hello@intoops.com.