capital-raising
Capital raising is the process of bringing new money into a company — equity, debt or a hybrid — to fund growth, acquisitions, working capital or a recapitalisation. It is a transaction with a price, a structure and a set of counterparties, not a slogan.
When a company raises capital it is selling a claim: common equity, preferred shares, a convertible note, a credit facility, or a package. The investor’s question is the same as in a sale — what is this worth, what can go wrong, and who else is in the cap table — but the owner usually stays.
Fundraising is the same activity described from the seeker’s side. Equity financing and debt financing are the two primary instruments. Growth capital is a use-case, not a security.
A raise typically moves through: materials (teaser, deck, model), NDA, investor data room, term sheet, due diligence, definitive documents, and closing. In the United States many private raises rely on SEC exempt-offering safe harbours; in Europe the marketing of funds and of securities is a different regulatory map. The economics still start with pre-money valuation or with credit metrics.
A founder wants €6m for international sales. Three paths: (1) growth equity at a €24m pre-money (20% sold); (2) a unitranche of €6m at 7% with covenants on leverage; (3) a mix. Path 1 is expensive in dilution if the plan works. Path 2 is cheap if cash converts, fatal if it does not. The “raise” is that choice, not the deck.
Owners care about control, dilution and whether the money is patient. Investors care about information rights, downside, and the path to liquidity — a later round, a trade sale, or cash generation. Institutional investors will also care about fund-level constraints that the company never sees.
Raising on a valuation the next round cannot defend. Starting the process before the financials can survive a QoE-style look. Treating every cheque as equivalent. Ignoring capital structure (existing debt, preference stacks) until legal diligence.
A raise does not create a market. It also does not replace an exit strategy if the investors’ clock is shorter than the owner’s.
Most raises stall on fragmented information: one pack for the banker, another for the fund, a third for the lender. A single structured layer — valuation, room, matching — is how Dazur treats capital raising as a continuation of company intelligence, not a new project.