Innovator Seed Fund (ISF) How to Apply (2024)

FAQs

Innovator Seed Fund (ISF) How to Apply? ›

Submissions must be made to the HEC

Investors will look at your revenue, your margins, your churn rate, and your customer acquisition costs. The average seed round for a pre-revenue startup is $500,000. The average seed round for a post-revenue startup is $2 million.

You've Launched Your Product And Gained Traction

At the seed stage, investors expect a complete and functional product with sales backing up product market fit. Not only do you need to provide sales records there needs to be a rapidly growing interest. Typically, a 10% growth rate each week per year is a good minimum.

When a startup gets seed funding, the investors usually want their money back within 5 to 7 years. The most common way to do this is through a process called an initial public offering (IPO). An IPO is when a company sells shares of itself to the public for the first time.

The Risk Of Giving Up Too Much Equity: In order for a startup to receive seed funding, the co-founders have to give up a significant amount of equity in your startup company in order to attract seed funding. This can be risky, as it means you'll have less control over your business.

Even though there are multiple funding rounds after it, raising pre-seed money is perhaps the most difficult point in your startup's life regarding raising capital. This is often because novice startups have no idea where to meet new potential investors.

Later stage founders may pay themselves several multiples of that. The amount of pay will vary by the stage of the company, the amount of venture or seed funding raised, the founder's experience and title and the startup's industry.

Determine how much seed money you need: Calculate your funding requirements based on business plans and growth projections. Get prepared to approach investors: Develop a compelling pitch deck and business plan to present to investors.

How do I convince seed funding? ›

Demonstrate traction and market fit

VCs typically invest in startups with some market traction or validation. Present any evidence of customer interest, revenue, growth metrics, or partnerships that demonstrate your startup's market fit and potential for growth.

Is Seed Funding Taxable? Seed funding, similar to other forms of investment capital, should not be taxable when received. It is an investment in your company and does not count as income.

You need a strong pitch because you likely won't have an actual product at this point. This pitch will let investors know precisely what they're investing in and include details about your product, business, target market, and financial predictions for the future of your business.

From Underscore's perspective, a Pre-Seed round is likely under $1M, while a Seed round could be between $1-4M. But what matters more than round labels is that you're able to raise the capital needed to get you to the next chapter of your startup journey.

According to Docsend, 37% of successful founders close a Seed round in 1-6 weeks, 32% take between 7-18 weeks, and the rest take 19 weeks or more. Your priority as a founder should be to find the most valuable investors for your particular startup at a healthy pace that doesn't lead to burnout.

Investor community StartEngine recommends that companies aim to raise their seed round "when they have less than $3 million annual recurring revenue (ARR).”

How Much Equity Should be Given Away in a Seed Round? A general rule of thumb is giving away between 10-20% equity during a seed round. This may likely be to angel investors who are willing to put in checks right at the origin of a company during the early stages.

The difference between pre-seed and seed funding

Founders tend to get higher investments through seed funding than pre-seed funding, with pre-seed funding generating around $50,000 to $250,000 while seed funding may raise upwards of $2M.