What is "equity" finance – is this like a bank loan?
No a bank loan is debt finance. Equity finance is selling shares in your company.
My business isn't a company – can I use this?
I’m sorry no. We focus on helping people sell shares in their companies.
What valuation/share price should I set for my business?
This is a very tricky subject and its worth getting some advice on this. There are a wealth of resources on valuing businesses.
Does ShareIn have an investor base we can use?
No. We don't bring investors to you. We provide the tools to allow you to contact potential investors who believe in you.
Is this like crowdfunding?
Yes it is. It's sometimes called equity crowdfunding. See more info here https://www.nesta.org.uk/feature/innovation-methods/crowdfunding/
Equity crowdfunding is the process whereby individuals or the "crowd" invest in an unlisted company (a company that is not listed on a stock market) in exchange for shares in that company.
Equity crowdfunding is a great way to match companies who need funding with individuals who wish to invest. Investors become shareholders and have partial ownership of a company. Individuals get a share in the future success of a company they believe in. If the company fails investors can lose some, or all, of their investment.
Is this like GoFundMe or Kickstarter?
No. We’re not talking about gifting money, pre-selling or rewards based crowdfunding we’re focused on investment activity.
We help you sell shares in your business.
I'm a start-up I don’t have the setup fee – are you able to provide a cheaper service?
No we're sorry. This is a financially regulated activity and it’s important we don’t cut corners on our due diligence.
We work well for companies who already have customers who love them and want to support them.
Do we just "plug in" your back end to our website?
No. We build a website for you and give you admin access to see the progress with your deal. You simply link to that site from your website.
We're here to help – so don’t worry if you're not technically minded.
Won't it make things very difficult having lots of shareholders?
You will have responsibilities to shareholders. Typically, you set that out in your shareholder agreement. It's important you and your shareholders understand the level of input they will get. e.g. Having clauses that are on-line friendly is important. You'll want email as a deemed means of communication. You'll also not want to require investor consent too frequently for day to day activity as they will slow your business down.
Having a large investor can have its benefits though. Lots of people believing in your brand, telling friends, buying more from you and ultimately sharing in your success can help you.
My company is eligible for EIS/SEIS can you help with that?
Yes. We make sure that its clear what the status is to investors. We provide your company with the information in order for you /your accountant to progress the EIS/SEIS eligible shares.
Where are ShareIn based?
All our team are based in the UK working out of our Edinburgh office.
Do you help with the legal documents such as shareholder agreements etc?
No. Our pricing doesn't include legal costs to complete the transaction. You can use your existing lawyers or we can recommend a firm to help draft amendments to your existing Articles of Association and shareholder agreements.
Can people from overseas invest in my company?
No.
Can people buy shares using crypto-currency?
No, that is outside of our risk appetite.
What businesses won't you provide this service for?
Sole traders/Partnerships – as people can’t buy shares in them.
Non-UK based businesses.
A business involved in tokenisation/crypto assets of any sort, Property developers or any sort of real estate property, any business involved in gambling, pornography, tobacco or weapons.
Who can invest?
People residing in the United Kingdom who are either a "Certified High Net Worth Individual" or "Self-Certified Sophisticated Investor" (as these terms are defined in The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005 (as amended)) or who can confirm that they will invest less than 10% of their net assets in this type of investment as a "restricted investor" (as this is defined in the FCA's Conduct of Business Sourcebook at Chapter 4.7).
How to calculate the share price on a new issue of shares?
When a company issues new shares there may be reasons for attributing a specific price per share. A company wanting to generate interest among a wide range of investors might price low, say 50 pence. A company wishing to attract only high net worth investors might set a share price of £5,000. But – in itself – the price of a share is unimportant and is merely an arithmetical by-product of the company’s overall value.
Example 1
A company has 20,000 shares currently in issue and wants to raise £1 million via a share issue and believes that (pre-share issue) the company has a value of £4 million. That means that the existing shares have a per share valuation of £4 million ÷ 20,000 = £200.
The easiest solution to pricing the new shares is to attribute them with a price of £200 meaning that there will be £1 million ÷ £200 = 5,000 new shares issued.
Example 2
As in Example 1 except that the company’s directors want to set the share price at £4 in order to attract more interest.
As the company is currently valued at £4 million, a share price of £4 would mean that there should be 1 million shares in issue but there are only 20,000 in issue. Before the raise the company needs to issue 1,000,000 – 20,000 = 980,000 ‘bonus shares’ on the basis of 98 bonus shares for every 2 held. The per share value after the bonus issue is £4 million ÷ 1,000,000 = £4.
So if you owned 2 shares you would own 2 + 98 = 100 shares after the bonus issue but the overall value of your shares won’t have changed. Before you had 2 shares valued at £200 = £400, now you have 100 shares valued at £4 = £400.
