Funding round champions.

Advice delivered by people who have been there before. Founders, VCs and advisors.
Ithaca is a network of successful ex-founders, ex-VCs and advisors for tailored funding round support. Advice, on your bench, exactly when you need it.

Platforms are great, but for some things you need people.
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Our funding guide
Our approach

How it works

I. Join our free community

Completely free to apply - we will ask you for an overview of your business and your latest funding materials (if you have them).

II. We'll help you develop a funding plan

If we think that our community can help you, we will set up a call to meet you and better understand your business. From here, we'll work together to develop your funding plan.

III. Leverage our network for support

When the time is right to launch your fundraising efforts, we can provide you with tailored support using our network of experts. Their efforts are priced on a competitive day rate, and vary depending on experience.

£500 / day for junior support
£700 / day for mid-level support
£900 / day for senior support

When we design a project with you, we focus on fit and efficiency - we really know the people in our network and pride ourselves on the matching!
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Key steps of a funding round

Each funding round is different, tailored to the company and the investors that they are targeting, but most feature the key elements outlined below.

Through our community, we help you understand and optimise your approach for each. A person-led service, delivered by those who have been there before.‍
Join our community
Our funding guide

Equity story

An equity story charts the journey of a company's shareholders into the future. It is a thought exercise that formalises a founder's understanding of their product and market, and underpins the rationale for investment.

Meet equity story experts:

James
Successful ex-founder turned VC investor.
Oya
Tier-one ex-investment banker turned startup advisor.
Oliver
Ex-investment banker with mid-market focus.
Our teams can help you to develop a plan that outlines exactly how equity investors in your business will receive a return. This exercise occurs at the beginning of a round and covers your market, growth aspirations and areas of risk.
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Pitch deck

A great pitch deck distills the most exciting aspects of your equity story into a clear, concise and convincing document. This document needs to be dual format - a video and a presentation, that is either delivered by you or sent to be read separately.

Meet pitch deck experts:

James
Successful ex-founder turned VC investor.
Oliver
Ex-investment banker with mid-market focus.
Oya
Tier-one ex-investment banker turned startup advisor.
Consolidating the key themes of your equity story into a clear, hard-hitting deck of slides is a challenging process. Our experts will ensure you hit the messages that land your ideal investors.
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Financial model

A financial model provides a numerical representation of business performance. Investors use models to develop a detailed understanding of a business' operations and performance forecasts and, ideally, to test the underlying assumptions.

Meet financial modelling experts:

Kuber
Ex-investment banker with strong financial modelling skills.
Joe
Ex-VC professional turned startup advisor.
Szabi
Impact investor and financial advisor.
A detailed, numerical view of a business. Your financial model will allow investors to assess the detail of your business' growth plans.
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Business valuation

Valuation in early-stage funding rounds should be seen as an output from negotiations between a company and investors. To contribute effectively to this negotiation, both founders and investors can use a range of analytical techniques to estimate the 'fair' market valuation for a business.

Meet valuation experts:

Victoria
Ex-investment banker with a focus on beauty, health, wellness and luxury.
Peter
Senior investor and entrepreneur, with corporate experience
Kuber
Ex-investment banker with strong financial modelling skills.
Receive a professional opinion on the value of your business. Based on intrinsic and relative valuation corporate finance methodologies. A great resource to support your conversations with investors.
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KPI strategy and tracking

Key performance indicators provide a dashboard view of a business' health and are widely used by both founders and investors. The relevance of difference KPIs depends on the nature and stage of a business, and should evolve as the business grows.

Meet KPI experts:

Olav
FDD specialist with a background in data analysis.
Oli
Senior financial modelling with tier-one investment banking background.
Joe
Ex-VC professional turned startup advisor.
KPIs benchmark your company’s health and success. Analysing customer cohorts is key to understanding your customer’s behaviour and refining your product and marketing strategies. Our specialists can help you prepare in-depth KPIs and cohorts analysis to support both business performance and investor marketing.
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Investor mapping & intros

The investor landscape is incredibly varied - knowing which pools of capital are best suited to your business is an essential step in your funding round preparations. Once identified, develop a strategy that positions the highlights of your investment case at the forefront of the investors' minds.

Meet investor origination experts:

James
Successful ex-founder turned VC investor.
Victoria
Ex-investment banker with a focus on beauty, health, wellness and luxury.
Peter
Senior investor and entrepreneur, with corporate experience
Finding the right investor for your business is the most important part of the fundraising process. Our experts can advise you on the right type of investors and financing for your business and how to best approach them.
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Investor management

Once your process has begun, you will have several important workstreams required to manage investors through the funnel - from the initial introduction to receiving money in your bank. Coordinating an efficient due diligence process, supported by a well-managed VDR, and negotiating term sheets are key among these.

Meet investor management experts:

James
Senior investment management professional turned startup advisor.
Oya
Tier-one ex-investment banker turned startup advisor.
George
Tech-focused ex-investment banker with scale up experience.
From managing the diligence process to negotiating terms sheets, our experts can support a great outcome for you. Streamline your process and obtain a better outcome by anticipating information requests, keeping investors engaged and driving competitive tension.
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Looking to raise capital?
Join our community for expert, tailored advice - delivered by people who have been there before.
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