After building your business and finishing your Series A funding, it is now high time that you fully understand how important your investors are in growing your company to be successful.
A business has five parts: Value-Creation, Marketing, Sales, Value-Delivery and Finance. Finance is crucial for every company as it can only function with money. This is especially so for companies trying to expand and is in the Series B funding stage. This is where a Series B investor comes into play, but what are the roles of these investors aside from providing capital?
An investor is the market participant, the general public most typically associated with the stock market. Investors purchase a company's shares for the long term, assuming the company has excellent future possibilities. A Series B investor is an investor who takes part in the Series B investment round and contributes money, knowledge, and support to help a business expand and hit new milestones. They are typically venture capital firms, private equity firms, institutional investors, or wealthy individuals interested in investing in high-potential companies.
Firm offering private equity financing to startups, early-stage, and developing enterprises with strong growth potential or exhibiting high growth.
Venture capital (VC) companies concentrate their investment strategy on identifying and assisting early-stage entrepreneurs with solid growth potential to acquire more extensive ownership holdings in the business and shape its future development. They seek out novel concepts, expandable company models, and goods and services with distinctive value propositions.
Venture capital firms (VCs) aggregate resources from various investors, including high-net-worth individuals, institutions, and enterprises, to invest in future entrepreneurs in exchange for stock ownership. When these firms flourish and expand, the ultimate goal is to realise a big return on investment, generally through an exit event like an initial public offering (IPO) or acquisition.
1. Solid Management
VCs invest mainly in the management team's capacity to carry out the company plan.
2. Size of the Market
VCs typically seek to make sure that their portfolio companies have a probability of increasing sales.
3. Great Product With Competitive Edge
Investors aim to invest long-term in high-quality goods and services with a competitive advantage.
4. Assessment of Risks
VCs aim to reduce risk while generating significant investment returns. They will want to be very explicit about what has been completed by the company and what still needs to be done.
Venture capital firms are essential to helping start-ups along the way by offering financial resources, strategic advice, network access, operational expertise, a boost in reputation, and even the potential for additional funding for the next stage. This value-add can greatly raise a start-up's chances of success in the cutthroat business environment.
A person or business investing to benefit strategically from the collaboration. A strategic investor is seeking a strategic partner who will improve their company's future operations through innovation or synergy rather than one who will only be interested in financial rewards.
Strategic investors have a different investment approach than conventional venture capital firms or financial investors. Their investing strategy is centered on utilizing their current assets and skills to help and profit from the expansion of the businesses they invest in. They look to invest in businesses whose fundamental competencies, technologies, or market niches fit with their own.
They search for start-ups or firms that can boost their competitive position, offer access to new markets, or complement their current goods or services. then develop joint ventures and synergies with the businesses they invest in. In the end, if they see sufficient potential for synergy or market dominance, they start buying start-ups entirely. The start-up's founders and early investors may have the chance to depart the business as a result.
Strategic investors' investment criteria are determined by their particular strategic goals and the potential rewards they hope to obtain through their investments. While these standards can change depending on each strategic investor's particular objectives, some regular elements they take into account are:
Beyond financial investment, strategic investors can offer start-ups a lot of value. Their existing resources, understanding of the sector, and skills all contribute to the strategic value they provide. The following are some significant add-on values:
A subset of private equity investors specializing in lending money and other resources to established and quickly expanding businesses. Growth equity investors focus on companies that have already achieved a certain amount of success and aim to scale their operations, increase their market reach, or quicken their growth trajectory, unlike traditional venture capital firms that often invest in early-stage entrepreneurs.
The goal of a growth equity investor's investment strategy is to maximize a company's growth potential while reducing the risks usually associated with early-stage investments.
They concentrate on businesses that have passed the early-stage startup phase, have attained a certain amount of revenue and profitability, but have not yet matured or gone public and need more money to hasten their growth trajectory and take advantage of market opportunities. They normally buy minor holdings in the target company, but they frequently play an active role in offering operational help and strategic advice.
The main factors that growth stock investors often consider before making an investment choice are listed below:
Growth equity investors are crucial in aiding start-ups with both financial and strategic support, guiding them through the difficulties of developing a business, and setting them up for long-term success in highly competitive industries. In addition to financial support, they offer advice, coaching, networks, and access to resources that can be extremely beneficial for a start-up's development.
Investors may play various roles depending on the type of investment and the particular investment structure. Here are a few typical investor jobs:
One of the primary responsibilities of investors is to supply money to companies, groups, or people in exchange for ownership or return on investment. The company's growth and expansion goals are funded by cash from Series B investors. This money is often used to expand operations, make sales and marketing investments, create new goods or services, and break into new markets. The capital inflow accelerates the company's growth trajectory.
Some investors might offer their skills, wisdom, or experience to the companies they finance. They offer the management team of the company strategic direction and mentoring, as well as insights and counsel based on their knowledge of the sector. They can assist in navigating difficulties, identifying development possibilities, and improving the company's business strategy.
Investors in Series B usually come from reputed institutional investors or venture capital organizations. Their participation in a company is a sign of approval and a declaration of faith in the management team, market potential, and business plan of the organization. The company's legitimacy may increase due to this validation, which may draw additional capital, business partners, and clients.
The business and investment communities are places where Series B investors frequently have substantial networks. They use these networks to introduce the business to possible consumers, suppliers, partners, and investors. Strategic opportunities, further funding rounds, and beneficial industry partnerships may become available due to these linkages.
Investors keep an eye on their investments to ensure they achieve their goals. This could entail monitoring financial results, examining market trends, and evaluating risks. Investors can identify potential issues or areas requiring attention by closely monitoring investments.
Investors often have voting privileges or board representation. Thus, allowing them to participate in important decision-making processes. They cast votes on critical business activities, executive appointments, mergers and acquisitions, changes to the capital structure, and other major strategic initiatives. Investors have a voice in the governance and development of the company through their voting rights.
Their participation contributes to the appropriate administration and control of the businesses they invest in. Thus, ultimately trying to safeguard and increase the value of their investment.
Although they often have a longer time horizon for their investments, Series B investors are likewise concerned about possible exits and liquidity events. A liquidity event is an exit strategy private firm ownership uses to sell all or some of their shares. They collaborate closely with the business' management group to prepare for potential liquidity options, such as mergers and acquisitions or an initial public offering (IPO). They are enhancing the company's financial standing, market visibility, and scalability aiding in positioning the business for a profitable departure.
To fully understand these roles of an investor, here is an example to summarise it.
“A venture capital firm specializing in healthcare investments provides Series B money to a technology start-up in the healthcare sector. The investor performs due diligence, contributes money, and offers their experience. They provide tactical advice on enhancing the product, negotiating the market, and forming alliances. They also use their industry network to ease introductions and assist the start-up in growing its customer base. The investment also helps to create a scalable operational framework. The startup's expansion and success in becoming a leader in the healthcare software sector are facilitated by this cooperative cooperation.”
In general, Series B investors are crucial in assisting your company in its transition from early-stage start-ups to more established and scalable enterprises. Its financial support, direction, validation, and connections influence the company's expansion, market reputation, and long-term performance. You must remove the notion that investors only provide capital.
