Watersheds offers a complete fundraising service which caters for early stage companies as well as mature companies. Moreover we have a comprehensive knowledge and strong relationships with all types of funders such as venture capitalists and private equity firms as well as banks.

Clients are often concerned about embarking on a fundraising exercise for fear it will be unsuccessful and take up valuable time. If we take on the project we show our belief in it by the way in which we structure our fees, being paid only when the new funds are available.

Our approach is based on the belief that maximising the chance of success is about planning and thinking ahead. Fundraisings can be technically difficult, such as the $16 million import finance letter of credit facility that we negotiated at the peak of the credit crunch for one of the 100 fastest growing companies in the country (Sunday Times).

Alternatively it may be rigorous testing of commercial assumptions that is key, such as in the raising of £2 million that we arranged for United MRI to start a clinic at Harley Street using the country’s first vertical MRI scanner.

Whatever the challenge our natural starting point is to think and plan and understand a transaction from a funder’s point of view.

We go on to consider in detail how best to structure a transaction to reduce the cost of the funding to the client. Some forms of funding are more expensive than others. The mix is often critical. We spend time discussing with clients how best to structure a transaction long before introducing it to funders. Clients get a better deal if the fundraising process is well planned with well thought through information going to the right funders leading to competition between them. It is our job to create this competition to deliver the best deal for our client.