Business Funding Service: 90% Success Rate, £250M+ Secured
Most funding failures are execution failures rather than strategy failures. The route was right, the paperwork was thin, the questions went unanswered, and the application quietly died.
We are a funding facilitation consultancy, not a broker and not a lender. We assess readiness, build the documentation, run the process, negotiate the terms and coordinate completion. That distinction is the whole point of the service: we do not hand you an introduction and step away.
What Makes SGI Different
Most funding support falls into one of two camps. Advisers tell you what to do and leave you to execute it. Brokers introduce you to a single-lender panel and earn a fee at handover.
SGI handles execution: we prepare the materials, identify the appropriate funding routes, manage outreach and communications, negotiate terms, and coordinate legal completion.
This matters because most funding failures are execution failures rather than strategy failures, and a sound funding strategy that is poorly executed yields the same outcome as a flawed one: no funding.
Some firms in this market ask for £10,000 or more before making an introduction. We will not do that, for a simple reason: it puts a business that needs money into debt to pay for a service that might not work, and it transfers all the risk to the person least able to carry it.
Our fees are structured the other way round. A modest charge covers the work that has a real cost. The rest is success-based, so we are paid properly when you are funded and not when you are not. That is a harder business to run, and we think it is the right one.
Our Funding Success Record
Funding Success Rate compared with a 13 to 20 per cent industry average
Total Capital Secured for Clients
Businesses Funded
Specialist Lenders in Debt Network
Who We Work With
Funding is not one problem, and the right route depends entirely on your situation. We most often work with five kinds of businesses.
Early-stage technology founders. You have early traction or initial product-market fit and need angel or seed capital to scale, but approaching investors without a stress-tested financial model and a compliant SEIS or EIS structure risks an avoidable rejection. We prepare the materials and the investor process so the raise stands up to scrutiny.
Established SMEs facing a growth plateau. Your business generates consistent revenue, but extended client payment terms and trapped liquidity are constraining expansion. We facilitate invoice finance and revolving working capital so you can fund hiring and growth without giving up equity. See growth capital for established SMEs.
Asset-heavy operators in manufacturing, logistics and retail. You need to acquire machinery, vehicles or equipment without draining operating cash. We arrange asset and equipment finance secured against the asset itself rather than your wider balance sheet.
Acquisition and management-buyout candidates. You have identified a target or are executing an MBO and need a multi-tiered capital structure. We structure bespoke funding combining senior debt and equity to support the transaction.
Businesses that have been declined by their bank. A decline reflects one lender's criteria, not the market's view of your viability. We reassess the reason, correct the presentation, and approach lenders with a broader risk appetite. See funding help after being declined.
Research-led and technical businesses before revenue. You are building something genuinely novel, and the technical risk is real, but you do not yet have the traction that equity investors now expect. Grants, innovation loans, and R&D tax relief are designed for exactly this position, and they buy the runway that makes a later equity raise possible. We have prepared successful Innovate UK grant and loan applications and know what a competitive submission looks like.
If your situation is not listed above, contact us anyway. Our lender network and investor relationships cover virtually every commercial scenario.
Three Strategic Pathways
Every business's capital requirements differ, and the right funding route depends on its stage, ownership structure, revenue profile, and growth ambitions. Our first task in every engagement is to determine which pathway, or combination, is most appropriate
Debt funding preserves ownership while providing capital for growth. It suits businesses with existing revenue, a demonstrable ability to service debt, and requirements that do not need the strategic support an equity investor brings. Commercial loans, asset finance, government-backed schemes, invoice finance, and alternative lending all fall within the debt pathway, and debt facilitation is provided at no cost to your business.
Equity investment provides capital in exchange for an ownership stake. It suits high-growth businesses needing capital on a scale that debt cannot provide, or that would benefit from the strategic involvement, network and credibility the right investor brings alongside the money. Angel investment, venture capital, family-office funding, and strategic investment fall under the equity pathway, and equity facilitation is provided on a success-only basis.
Non-dilutive funding gives you capital without giving up ownership and without taking on conventional debt. It suits businesses conducting genuine research and development, businesses in sectors with dedicated public funding, and businesses with revenue that would rather borrow against that revenue than against their balance sheet.
This pathway covers Innovate UK grant competitions, the Growth Guarantee Scheme, government-backed Start Up Loans, R&D tax relief and advance funding against a future claim, defence and security innovation funding, regional and devolved grant schemes, and revenue-based finance. For clients with a US or EU entity, it also covers the federal and European programmes available in those jurisdictions.
It is often the fastest route to capital and frequently the right first step for a business that is not yet ready for an equity raise. Grants and reliefs also strengthen a later equity round because they validate the technology and extend the runway before you negotiate.
Our Business Funding Service provides professional facilitation for all three pathways:
Our Funding Assessment Determines Your Optimal Path
Every successful funding journey begins with understanding which route, debt, equity or non-dilutive, best suits your business.
The assessment that determines which pathway is right for your business is the starting point for every engagement.
Some businesses are clearly suited to one route. Others have genuine optionality between two or all three.
We make the recommendation based on evidence, not on which route generates higher fees.
Equity Investment: Perfect for high-growth ventures seeking capital and expertise
We turn down work. If your business is not fundable on the route you want, we will tell you on the first call rather than after three months of preparation. That costs us engagements, and it's why our completion rate is what it is. It is also the reason an introduction from us carries weight with the investors and lenders we work with.
Whether you need funding for
Business loans for expansion or equipment finance
Private investment from Angel Investors, VCs or Private Equity firms
Alternative lending for working capital or growth initiatives
Asset finance for property, equipment or technology investments
Invoice factoring or cash flow solutions
Acquisition finance or development capital
Grant funding for research, development and innovation
R&D tax relief and advance funding against your claim
Government-backed schemes including the Growth Guarantee Scheme and Start Up Loans
Strategic Funding Journey
Our systematic approach begins with a comprehensive assessment to determine your optimal funding route, followed by tailored preparation and professional facilitation
Funding Route Call
Your funding journey begins with our comprehensive assessment that evaluates your business's funding needs and determines the most appropriate route - debt or equity funding.
This crucial evaluation examines your financial position, business stage, growth plans, and funding requirements to identify whether debt funding through our lender network or equity investment from our investor partners is most suitable.
Assessment Outcomes
Optimal funding route determination across debt, equity and non-dilutive
- Funding readiness evaluation for chosen route
- Clear pathway guidance with timeline projections
- Debt Route: Information requirements for lender assessment
Equity Route: Investment readiness evaluation of documents and structure
Non-dilutive route: eligibility screen against live schemes and open rounds
Route-Specific Preparation
Debt Funding Path
Businesses suited for debt funding provide key financial and business information which we present to our network of 150+ specialist lenders for assessment.
No fees apply as we receive commissions from successful lending arrangements.
- Gather required financial documentation
- Complete lender information requirements
- Proceed directly to funding facilitation
Equity Funding Path
For equity routes, we assess whether your business plan, corporate structure and documentation meet investment standards. Almost nobody passes that assessment the first time, and that is not a failure. It is the point of doing it.
If your materials are ready, the £299 investor matching charge applies, and we begin filtering investors against your profile, building the executive summary and running the approach process.
If there are gaps, you will receive a scored assessment that names each one and explains how to fix it. You can then take one of our preparation routes, fix the gaps yourself using the assessment as your specification, or use another provider.
We will tell you honestly which gaps are material and which are cosmetic. If you take one of our routes, the £299 is credited against it.
Professional Funding Facilitation
Once preparation is complete, we execute professional funding facilitation through your chosen route
Debt Funding: Submit to multiple lenders, manage applications, negotiate terms, and coordinate completion - all at no cost to you.
Equity Investment: Execute investor targeting through our A+ to Z grading system, manage outreach and presentations, facilitate due diligence, and negotiate optimal terms.
Facilitation Services
Professional market engagement and relationship management
- Faster to market than a self-managed process, because outreach is systematic and unsuitable funders are filtered out before contact
Multiple offer generation for competitive terms
Complete transaction coordination through legal completion
Debt at no cost to you. Equity and non-dilutive on success, with a £299 setup fee credited against any preparation route
What you get, whether or not you raise
Funding is never guaranteed. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you something. What we can guarantee is what you hold at the end of the assessment.
Every client receives a scored investment readiness assessment: 100 points across nine weighted components, covering team, market, product and traction, business model, financial model, go-to-market, funding ask, legal and IP risk, and the integrity of your materials. It is scored twice, once as you are today and once as you could be after remediation, so you can see exactly what the gap is.
Alongside the score, your materials go through the same adversarial checks that an investor’s own first-pass screening applies. We read your deck, your website, and your founder profiles as a single dataset and surface every contradiction among them. We tag every factual claim as supported, inconsistent or unverifiable. We check whether your financials can actually be read by the systems that will process them.
You end up with a named list of what is wrong, why it matters to an investor, and how to fix it. If you raise with us, that work is the foundation of the raise. If you do not raise at all, you still own an honest, evidenced picture of your business and a route to being fundable later. That part is not contingent on anything.
If your route is grant or non-dilutive funding, the equivalent applies. You receive a grant readiness assessment: which schemes you genuinely qualify for and which you do not, where the gates are, when the next relevant round opens, and an honest view of what your application would be competing against. Where the commercial case needs strengthening before it will score well, you get a named list of what is weak and what fixes it. That assessment is yours regardless of what happens next.
Get Your Free Funding Readiness Assessment
The Pathways - In Detail
Our professional Business Funding Service provides comprehensive facilitation for both debt and equity funding routes, with tailored business finance solutions and fee structures designed to optimise your specific capital requirements.
Debt Funding
Professional facilitation across 150+ specialist lenders with complete service funded by lending partners
Our debt funding route provides comprehensive facilitation for business loans, asset finance, government schemes, and alternative lending without any cost to your business.
Business loans from £25,000 to £5,000,000
Government-backed funding schemes (Growth Guarantee Scheme)
Alternative lending and peer-to-peer platforms
Invoice factoring and cashflow solutions
Development finance and property funding
Specialist sector financing (trade, equipment)
Complete application management and coordination
Equity Investment
Intelligent investor targeting with living documentation evolution and professional relationship management
Our equity investment route provides systematic investor engagement through our A+ to Z grading system, targeting angel networks, venture capital firms, family offices, and strategic investors.
Angel investor identification through intelligent database matching
Venture capital firm targeting based on sector and stage focus
Family office and private equity strategic introductions
Investor grading system (A+ to Z) for success probability
Targeted outreach preventing unsuitable investor contact
EIS/SEIS registration and tax advantage maximisation
Transparent progress reporting with investor feedback analysis
Non-Dilutive Funding
Intelligent investor targeting with living documentation evolution and professional relationship management
Innovate UK grant competitions and innovation loans
R&D tax relief and advance funding against a future claim
Growth Guarantee Scheme and government-backed Start Up Loans
Defence and security innovation funding
Regional and devolved grant schemes across the four nations
Revenue-based finance for businesses with established sales
Federal and European programmes for US and EU entities
Eligibility screening before any application work begins
How do we decide whether a business is fundable?

Most funding advice treats fundability as a matter of better materials. It is not. A well-run business with unverifiable claims will not raise, and a weaker business approaching the right funder at the right stage often will. Those are different problems, and they need different work.
We assess four things, and how they combine matters as much as how each scores.
The business case. Is this a business worth funding at all? This is the same assessment we apply in any consulting engagement because funders assess what consultants assess. They simply weigh it differently and have less time.
The evidence. Can every material claim be substantiated? This is where most founders lose ground without knowing it. The claims are usually true. They are simply not evidenced, and a funder cannot tell an unevidenced true claim from an unevidenced false one, so both get treated the same way.
Route fit. Is this the right funder, at the right stage, with the right instrument? This is the one the market gets wrong most often, because it is the only one that cannot be improved by working harder on the materials.
Screening risk. What would remove your submission in the first ninety seconds regardless of merit? Contradictions between your deck and your website. Financials locked inside image charts. An eligibility failure that was visible before you applied.
The business case and the evidence multiply rather than add, because an excellent case with no evidence is worth nothing, and perfect evidence for a weak case is worth nothing either. Route fit multiplies the whole because approaching the wrong funder makes everything else irrelevant. Screening risk subtracts because it does not dilute a submission; it removes it.
That is why we test route fit before we score anything, and why we tell some businesses on the first call that the route they wanted is closed to them today.
Key Features
Our unique combination of specialised expertise, proven methodologies, and success-aligned compensation creates unmatched value for both debt and equity funding requirements.
No-Win, No-Fee Commitment
No success fee is payable unless funding is completed. If equity funding is not secured within 18 months of the start of the facilitation engagement, no success fee will apply, and we will provide a full debrief, including investor feedback.
What is payable regardless of outcome: the £299 setup fee and any preparation route you choose to take. That work is delivered in full either way, and you keep it. Full terms are set out in the engagement letter before you commit to anything.
Service Level Guarantees
Comprehensive Support
Complete legal documentation support, including term sheet preparation, capitalisation table development, and EIS/SEIS registration with professional transaction coordination throughout.
Intelligent Investor Targeting
Our sophisticated database search methodology, which utilises business stage, funding amount, and sector criteria, ensures precise investor matching.
Combined with the A+ to Z grading system, we eliminate wasted outreach and focus on the highest-probability opportunities for superior results.
Continuous Improvement
Active business development support to address investor concerns, including corporate structure optimisation, team enhancement, and strategic partnership facilitation throughout the engagement.
Professional Standards
All investor communications adhere to institutional-grade standards with response time commitments, documentation quality, and relationship management protocols that enhance investor confidence.
Business Funding Service Process
Our proven methodology ensures comprehensive preparation, professional market engagement, and efficient transaction completion through structured phases with clear deliverables and measurable outcomes for all business finance requirements.
STEP 1
Initial Funding Assessment
We begin with a comprehensive assessment to understand your business needs and determine the most appropriate funding route - debt or equity. This crucial evaluation ensures you pursue the path with the highest success probability.
- Business financial health evaluation
- Debt vs equity suitability assessment
- Funding timeline and urgency evaluation
- Clear route recommendation with reasoning
Non-dilutive eligibility screen against live schemes
STEP 2
Route-Specific Readiness Check
Based on your determined route, we conduct specific readiness evaluations to ensure successful market engagement.
Debt: Collect financial information for lender assessment
- Debt: Credit profile and security position review
- Equity: Business plan and financial model evaluation
Legal documentation and compliance frameworks
- Equity: Investment readiness determination (ready to proceed or development needed)
Non-dilutive: scheme eligibility check and commercial case review
STEP 3
Transparent Relationship Management & Progress Reporting
Debt funding proceeds directly to the market with information gathering.
For equity, investment-ready businesses pay £299 to begin the process, while those needing development can prepare independently or use our services.
- Debt: Information package preparation for lenders
Equity (Ready): £299 setup fee for investor matching and executive summary
- Equity (Not Ready): Option to self-prepare documents
Equity (Not Ready): Alternative: Use our business planning service (£299 credited)
Non-dilutive: £299 setup fee for scheme research and application preparation
All: Final preparation for market engagement
STEP 4
Market Engagement and Funding Search
Professional execution of your funding search through our extensive networks, with tailored approaches for each route.
Debt: Simultaneous submission to multiple suitable lenders
Equity: A+ to Z investor grading and targeted outreach
Equity: A+ to Z investor grading and targeted outreach
Non-dilutive: application drafting, submission and assessor question management
All: Response tracking and strategic follow-up
All: Weekly progress updates and transparent reporting
STEP 5
Transaction Completion & Legal Coordination
Expert negotiation and transaction management to secure optimal terms and ensure smooth completion of your funding.
Debt: Terms comparison and negotiation (no fees to you)
- Equity: Term sheet negotiation and deal structuring
All: Due diligence coordination and support
All: Legal documentation and completion management
Non-dilutive: award conditions, reporting obligations and success fee on award
Trusted by Hundreds of Successful Companies Worldwide
Since 2014, our consulting team has delivered business consulting services to hundreds of clients—from early-stage startups to established businesses across the UK and internationally. Below are just a few of the startup companies and growing businesses we've supported through business formation, funding, and growth consulting.



Explore detailed examples of how our business consulting has enabled clients to secure funding and achieve growth:
Read Our Complete Case Studies & Track Record →
Discover specific examples, including Planetary Processing (Cambridge spin-out securing multi-source VC funding), Jamaica Rum Vibes (nationwide Tesco distribution and 220% growth), Velani Hospitality Group (180% revenue increase across 12 locations), and numerous other success stories across diverse sectors.
Get Your Free Funding Readiness Assessment
Book a free 45-minute call. We will evaluate your business across the factors that determine funding outcomes, financial documentation, corporate structure, market positioning, team credibility, and lender or investor appeal, determine the optimal pathway, and provide you with a personalised funding roadmap, including the specific preparation required for the chosen route. We will tell you honestly whether the business is fundable in its current state.
To make the call useful, bring a one-paragraph summary of your business and current revenue, the capital amount you are seeking, the use of capital, and your funding timeline.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Funding advice tells you what to do and leaves you to execute it. Facilitation does the execution for you. We prepare the documentation, identify the funding sources, manage outreach and communications, negotiate terms and coordinate legal completion. The distinction matters because most funding failures are execution failures, not strategy failures. A correct strategy poorly executed yields the same result as an incorrect one: no funding.
Debt. No charge to you at any stage. Lenders pay us on completion.
Non-dilutive. A £299 setup fee covers scheme research and application preparation, credited in full against any preparation route you take. A success fee applies to the award.
Equity. A £299 investor matching fee, credited in full against any preparation route you take. A success fee applies on completion.
Where preparation work is needed on any route, it is quoted before it starts, and you decide whether to take it, do it yourself using our assessment as the specification, or use another provider.
A broker introduces you to a panel of lenders and earns a fee upon handover. A bank assesses you against its own single set of criteria. We prepare your case, run a competitive process across many funding sources, and manage it to completion. The comparisons are set out in funding consultant versus going direct to your bank, and funding consultant versus funding broker.
The 90% success rate across managed engagements reflects both the quality of the facilitation process and the selectivity of the assessment. We do not take on engagements where a business is clearly not fundable in its current state. Where development is needed first, we say so and recommend what is required.
There is no catch. We receive an introducer commission from the lending partner on completion, which is standard practice in the lending intermediary market and is declared transparently to both sides. The structure aligns our incentives with yours: we are paid only when you receive funding, and our reputation depends on the quality of the arrangements we facilitate.
With professional facilitation, equity funding processes are typically completed in six to eight months from the point that investment-ready materials are available. Self-managed processes typically take twelve to eighteen months, largely because of slower investor response management, less systematic outreach, and the time lost to approaches to unsuitable investors. The timeline depends on the funding amount, the business's stage and sector, and market conditions at the point of raise.
We work with current UK government-backed lending schemes, including the Growth Guarantee Scheme (GGS) and sector-specific innovation and development funding programmes. We also facilitate funding through the British Business Bank's partner lenders and regional development funds. We do not work with schemes that are no longer active -- any scheme referenced in our materials is current at the time of engagement. If you have a question about a specific scheme, we will advise on its current status and eligibility criteria during the assessment.
Yes, and this is a common situation. A bank decline is not a definitive assessment of the business's fundability—it is an assessment of whether the business meets that specific bank's current lending criteria. Our network of 150+ specialist lenders includes many who specifically serve businesses that mainstream banks decline, whether because of limited trading history, sector restrictions, or security profile. We assess the reason for the bank's decline as part of our initial assessment and identify the lenders most likely to provide terms on the specific basis that the bank could not.
It depends on the instrument and your corporate structure. Many unsecured business loans require a personal guarantee from directors, whereas invoice finance and asset finance are typically secured against the asset itself. We aim to structure your funding to minimise personal risk exposure wherever possible.
Matching a business to the right investors is not a database lookup. It means filtering several hundred funds, angels, and syndicates by your sector, stage, cheque size, and geography, then checking that each one is still active and investing at your stage.
The £299 covers that cost. It is not a fee for access to us, nor a deposit against a result. If you go on to take one of our preparation routes, the £299 is credited in full against it, so you pay the route price, not the route price plus £299.
There is no charge at all on the debt route because lenders pay us on completion.
No success fee is charged. The £299 administrative fee is retained, and we provide a full debrief, including investor feedback and specific recommendations for what needs to change to make a future attempt more likely to succeed.
Yes. We have successfully prepared Innovate UK grant and loan applications, as well as applications to a range of other schemes. In most cases, the work starts before the application itself, because Innovate UK assesses the commercial case as heavily as the technology, and that is where most applications are lost. We take you through the business planning and financial modelling first, then build the application on top of it.
Typically three to twelve months from application to payment, depending on the scheme. Competitions run to fixed rounds, so timing often depends on when the next window opens rather than on how quickly you can prepare. If you have less than six months of runway, grant funding will not arrive in time, and we will tell you that rather than take the work.
Sometimes, the two interact, and the interaction can cost you money. Taking a grant can move a project from the SME R&D scheme into RDEC and reduce the value of your claim substantially. The two have to be modelled together before you commit to either. This is one of the most common and most expensive mistakes we see.
Different routes, same principle. US companies have access to federal programmes, including the R&D payroll tax offset and the SBIR and STTR schemes, though these carry ownership and residency requirements that need to be checked against your cap table before you apply. EU-established companies have national agency funding and the European Innovation Council. UK schemes generally require UK registration. We will tell you which stack is available to you based on where your operating entity is actually located.
Deciding how to fund your business
If you are still working out which route or which kind of adviser fits your situation, these go into more detail:
Important information on our regulatory status
SGI Consultants Ltd is not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are a business advisory and funding facilitation consultancy. We do not lend, act as a credit broker, or provide regulated financial advice or personal investment recommendations.
Our work is the preparation, presentation and coordination of funding applications and investor processes. Where an element of an engagement requires FCA authorisation, we work alongside FCA-authorised partners who carry out that regulated activity, and we will make this clear to you when it applies.
Nothing on this page is an offer, an inducement or an invitation to engage in investment activity, and nothing here constitutes financial, legal or tax advice. You should take independent professional advice before entering into any funding arrangement.
