How much should I raise? If you don't know, pick a number, not a range

It’s often hard to know whether you should raise as much as you need… or raise more. 

That’s why SeedLegals CEO Anthony Rose is here to show you some ways to decide exactly how much to raise, and explains why telling investors you’re raising ‘between X and Y’ usually backfires. Get the lowdown on the dilution/valuation maths behind typical rounds and learn about the step-by-step fundraising routes that UK startups follow in this short n’ sweet session. Watch below.

Key takeaways

Pick one number – not a range

• When investors ask how much you’re raising, bring in a single, confident figure rather than ‘between £500k and £1m’ – a range implies that you haven’t worked it through.
• Your target raise and valuation are linked: a common pattern is ~15% dilution, which could hint your valuation is roughly 5x the amount you’re raising.
• If you pitch a wide range, you also invite investors to anchor you at the lowest valuation and push for more dilution.

Remember that raising ‘more’ isn’t always smarter

• Bigger raises usually mean different investor types. What 20 angels might happily fund at £250k becomes a VC conversation at £1m+, and VCs often expect traction (revenue/users/product).
• Trying to raise too much too early can be a problem, as founders often spend months chasing a round they’re not ready for, then end up coming back to do the smaller SEIS/EIS round anyway.
• Ambition helps, but skipping steps tends to work only if you’ve got strong ‘form’ (eg. prior exits) or unusually strong access to capital. 

Fundraise in steps to avoid running out of cash

• There are two routes to a large round: wait and ‘kiss a lot of frogs’ until the perfect investor appears, or raise in smaller steps to build traction and unlock the next level.
• Smaller amounts raised sooner help you build, learn, and show progress, which makes the next raise faster and more credible (‘smaller fish’ first, then ‘bigger fish’).
• Incremental fundraising (including small top-ups) can be a practical way to keep building while you line up a larger round.

A realistic UK pathway

• A common pattern Anthony sees is that founders typically put in personal money first (he cites a median ~ £26k) to build something investable, because investors won’t back ‘just a PowerPoint’.
• Afterwards, it’s common to turn to friends and family (£50k–£100k), followed by a classic SEIS/EIS angel round (~£250k–£400k) to get the product properly built.
• After that: a seed round (often ~£500k–£1m+) once there’s a product and early traction, and then Series A once you’ve got revenue and are ready to scale hard.

Protect founder control

• If your plan is ~3 rounds to profitability (or a sale), diluting around 15% each round leaves founders with roughly 55% – still majority owners.
• Push dilution to 20–25% each time and, after three rounds, you can drop below 50%, meaning investors may have more control than founders.
• The ‘clean’ rule of thumb: aim for three raises, ~15% dilution each, plus an option pool to attract and retain a great team.