Frequently asked questions

This documents ensures that you and your co-founders are aligned from an early stage in your journey. The Founder Collaboration Agreement is useful pre-incorporation to document various aspects of your endeavours ahead of formalising these matters once you have incorporated.

We have more on the Founder Collaboration Agreement in this article and you can download our template document for free.

We are delighted that the FounderCatalyst platform supports start-ups striving to achieve Certified B Corporation status. Choosing B Corp compatible Articles of Association takes seconds: simply enable the 'Include Certified B Corporation compliant Articles?' within the Advanced round configuration options and we will handle the rest.

From B Labs: "Certified B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose. B Corps are accelerating a global culture shift to redefine success in business and build a more inclusive and sustainable economy."

We like to keep things straightforward, but in implementing our various services we have introduced a few different 'roles' and thought it useful to document the purpose and capability of each:

• Founder: Very straightforward - a Founder is an existing shareholder in a company and a director. To complete a funding round they are required to sign documents on their own behalf (for example IP assignment and founder service agreement) but also on behalf of the company. Each company can have one or more founders.
• Shareholder: This role doesn't participate in the current round, but will need to sign one or more documents (for example, the shareholder resolutions, the Subscription and Shareholders' Agreement) as part of a funding round. We will invite your shareholders to a funding round automatically when you enter your cap table and start a funding round.
• Investor: Participates in the current funding round and will be required to sign both a disclosure letter and the SSA. When a round completes an investor becomes a shareholder on the platform.
• Advisor: This role can create a company on the platform and start a round - in fact they can do anything a founder can other than sign anything on behalf of a founder or issue share certificates.
• Fund: This role doesn't participate in a funding round directly but will have full access to the Intelligent Data Room. In addition, this role have access to a 'Fund Term Sheet' which is a very concise summary of any fund settings that a fund, angel network or private equity club should be aware of

Every funding round will have at least one founder and one investor but the other roles are optional.

We know that some start-ups may still want the comfort of an advisor to provide formal advice at key points on their funding journey. All you need to do is invite your advisor to your round using the ‘People’ menu on the platform, choosing ‘Add new user’ and then selecting Advisor. It is up to you and your advisor to agree the scope of their involvement (and a payment, as appropriate). When added to the platform, it is possible for an advisor to undertake all of the actions that a founder, apart from signing documents and issuing share certificates. So, by using this feature, your advisor can help as much or as little as you choose and you still achieve significant time and cost savings whilst retaining control.

Good news, our price is fixed at £1,495 (excluding VAT). So, no matter how much funding you raise, you know exactly what you are paying.

The core documents produced on our platform, the Subscription and Shareholders’ Agreement, and the Articles of Association, are based upon the British Venture Capital Association (BVCA) templates. These BVCA model documents have been used to close more funding rounds in the UK than any other paperwork and are considered the ‘market standard’.

The BVCA’s paperwork is, we think, primarily designed for larger fundraises, so we have customised and, where possible, simplified the documents to support seed level transactions whilst still ensuring that they can scale as your business grows, rather than needing to be entirely replaced during the your funding journey.

The documents have been customised by our Chief Legal Officer, Charles Frank, a senior Corporate Finance lawyer with over 20 years in practice.

Finally, the documents produced by the FounderCatalyst platform coupled with the platforms SEIS toolkit outputs are routinely accepted by HMRC when submitted by our customers as part of the advance assurance process.

Login to the service using your credentials and hover over your account name at the top right of the screen. Select Settings and you can:

1. Add a picture to your account.
2. Amend your signature.
3. Amend your address.
4. Change your password.
5. Delete your account.

Before they can view anything, investors must sign a legally binding non-disclosure agreement via our platform. Only when you are happy to do so do you give investors full access to your Intelligent Data Room.

We provide all of the standard documents and forms that are normally required.

No, there are absolutely no hidden charges. It is a fixed cost no matter how much you raise.

In 30 minutes, you really can do the following (assuming you have the relevant information to hand):

1. Create a login to the website as a new founder.
2. Enter your company's details.
3. Enter information on your existing share capital table (if any)
4. Create a new funding round.
5. Create all of the documents you need.
6. Invite investors.
7. Go through the signing process.

Any delay is likely to be with your investors reading the investment documentation, and related discussions. But it's true: 30 minutes end to end is achievable.

A data room is a solution especially made for the secure storing and sharing of confidential business information. It is commonly used during financial transactions by lawyers, accountants and funders.

Our Intelligent Data Room is a virtual room used for storing and managing all of your essential documents during your fundraising. It also enables you to safely store and control access to all of your key business documents (e.g. your term sheet and business plan). Our Intelligent Data Room also creates and stores all of your legal documents and runs the process through to signature. This dramatically speeds up the time it takes to complete your legal journey.

We produce a set of ten document types that will be required by both you and any potential investors as follows:

1. Subscription and Shareholders' Agreement.
2. Articles of Association.
3. Disclosure Letter.
4. Founder Services Agreement.
5. Cap Table.
6. IP Assignment.
7. Term Sheet.
8. Board and Shareholder Resolutions.
9. Non-Disclosure Agreement.
10. Investor Share Certificates.

Put simply, you don't want to find yourself in the frustrating position where you or your investors are unhappy with the terms and conditions in your documentation, and your funding round stalls. You may then be forced, at considerable expense, to instruct a lawyer, introducing time and delay. We therefore have three versions of the documents that cater for all tastes. In the unlikely event that you need bespoke changes to any document, please let us know and we may be able to do this for you at no extra cost.

It's easy. Either hit the chat button in the bottom right of every page of our site or, if you prefer, you can email us at help@foundercatalyst.com.

No problem, this is a unique feature of our Intelligent Data Room. You can use your Intelligent Data Room to store your sensitive information and manage when potential investors see it. It's all included in our fixed price.

Yes, you can make minor changes. It's all included within the fixed price and you just have to let us know what changes you require.

The documents are immediately produced and made available to you once you have provided the key information required.

It's easy. Within the Intelligent Data Room you will be able to see who has registered for your round and what stage in the process they are at. Importantly, before viewing anything they must have signed a non-disclosure agreement, protecting your business.

We use strong HTTPS encryption (Qualys A-rated TLS v1.3) on our website to securely communicate with both you and your investors. We also encrypt documents stored in your Intelligent Data Room with 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard ("AES"). It's the same algorithm used by the United States Government to secure documents, so you know it's safe.

Yes, this can easily be done within our control panel. Sometimes during a funding round investors decide not to proceed and you can revoke their access at any point.

In short, a warranty is a contractual statement of fact about your company made by you to your investors. It forms part of almost every funding round. One of the main documents produced, the Subscription and Shareholders' Agreement, includes a schedule containing a number of warranties. Effectively, you promise or guarantee that the facts you have provided as part of the funding process are complete, true and accurate. For a more detailed explanation, see our article.