Start-up funding

Find growth capital to take the next steps with your start-up

Ready to grow further? The Harbour helps start-ups to put together the ideal financing mix, engage financiers and close fair deals.

Benefits
Disadvantages

What does start-up funding mean?

Finding funding for a start-up is not easy because there is often no or not enough stable income yet. In addition to your own funds, you will probably need money from external investors to further invest in staff, technology, marketing...

There are various options for finding funding, based on your needs and current situation. A financing mix, or accumulation of different forms of financing, can be interesting to optimize the conditions.

What are the challenges with start-up funding?

As a start-up, you usually have only limited income or even no turnover at all, and you can hardly present past figures that can determine the (financial) health and feasibility of the company. That makes finding funding a lot harder. And yet, you need money if you want to build a team and invest in growing your company.

Fortunately, there are also plenty of options available for starters.

What funding options are available for start-ups?

Bank financing is almost out of the question for start-ups because you cannot submit historical figures. There are other options, but the conditions are not always interesting. That's why it does help to work with a partner who doesn't just give you money.

helps you find any conditions, but also helps determine the right form of financing.

  • Crowdlending
  • Government funding
  • Real estate financing
  • Factoring
  • Leasing
  • Revenue based funding
  • Business angels
  • Venture capital

Start-up funding via business angels

A business angel is often a former entrepreneur who finances young, promising companies. In addition to funding, they also bring their advice, experience and network. If you find the right match, this person can add great value to your start-up.

Crowdfunding to fund your start-up

Crowdfunding is an alternative form of financing, where the general public can help fund your start-up. Interesting options for start-ups include crowdlending (issuing loans), equity crowdfunding (selling stocks) and reward-based crowdfunding (pre-selling products).

Venture Capital

Venture capital or venture capital is money that is invested in starting companies by professional organizations. Such investments often involve a great deal of risk for the financiers. The fact that these investors are taking the gamble anyway has everything to do with the fact that a high return may be waiting for them. The higher the risk, the greater the potential reward.

Government funding for start-ups

To support start-ups, the various regional and federal governments have numerous initiatives for these entrepreneurs. This can range from an innovation subsidy and co-financing to tax benefits for investors with, for example, a win-win loan or the tax shelter for start-ups.

Why seek start-up funding with The Harbour?

In principle, you can also raise money yourself, but your chances of success are limited and you will have to put in a huge amount of time. In the current phase of your growth, you're putting that time much better into your business.

Due to your limited historical figures, bank financing is difficult, your network is still limited to finding interesting investors, and you run the risk of giving up too many shares due to limited insights into the valuation of your start-up.

That is why we always work from a substantiated financial model for start-ups. This is where all assumptions are collected and we make the right connections. This makes it easier for an investor to understand the business and trust the plans.

How do we proceed?

First, we carry out a thorough check of your file. An advisor at The Harbour looks at your company through the eyes of an investor from different points of view and assesses the quality of your existing documentation. We explain the strengths and weaknesses of the file and review the action points. This way, you not only know what the driving factors of your business are, but also what to focus on in the coming months.

The existing documents are finalized and the missing items are drawn up with or for you. We ensure that your file is complete and admissible to the various parties we want to approach.

After that, we draw up a financing mix of all available channels. We draw up an investment file for each suitable channel and together we look for the most suitable financiers to close good deals with.

If you want to make a capital increase, you will of course need a substantiated valuation for your company. Based on that valuation, we are looking for investors in your network and our own network of more than 5000 financiers through an extensive matchmaking process. We prepare you for the possible questions in order to maximize your chances of success and we have the discussions together.

Get the right financing mix at the best terms
  • Access to the network of 5k+ financiers
  • Tailored financing process
  • Substantiated dossier increases chances of success
  • Always looking for the best deal

Standing still is not an option. Find the right financing for your business.

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Completely free of charge and barely half an hour of your time