Taking your business to the next level of growth isn’t an easy task, it takes a lot of time, effort, planning, and funding – and getting the finance together to make a difference can be tricky, if you take too many risks, you might end up in debt and damaging your company, but if you leave it too long – then you could miss out on prime opportunities and end up stagnating instead. Finding out the best way of raising funds for your business is key.
Funding doesn’t always have to come directly from your own sales, or from the pockets of your C-Suite, there are different methods which might be the right choice for your situation.
We’re going to look at three of the best methods of raising funds for you business, which might be the next option for your expansion:
Business Grants
There are a number of different grants available for different businesses, depending on the size and whether the company meets the criteria of each one.
In 2022, the SBA provided $25.7 billion in support through more than 47,000 loans to small businesses, with 68% of those loans being for $350,000 or less.
The first place to look for companies in the US, is the Grants.gov database – which has thousands of grants listed for small businesses, and has opportunities available for plenty of different business types.
At a federal level, there are over 900 grant programs (offered by 26 federal grant-making agencies), with programs falling into 20 different categories.
The drawback for small businesses on this route, is that there are very few grants available to individuals (which can prove especially difficult if you’re a sole trader), and there are none available for personal finance.
Initial Coin Offering (ICO)
An ICO is an unregulated means to raise funds for product and service ventures that are generally related to cryptocurrency. They are similar to Initial Public Offerings (IPOs).
Crypto investors are strongly advised to spend considerable amounts of time on research and analysis of the market, the potential product, and the upcoming offering before having the required currency available (this may be a fiat currency such as dollars, or another type of crypto) to make the required investment.
Once the transaction is completed, the investor will receive ‘tokens’ in exchange for their monetary investment in the business, and these tokens may gain or lose value depending on the market, the company, and other external factors.
The drawback for businesses looking at ICO investing, is that very few actually yield returns for investors, and although they can offer high potential profits (especially with lower prices and discounted token rates often being used as an investment draw), it is extremely difficult to determine which currencies are going to prove successful, and what investments will yield a decent ROI.