When you have an idea for an app, however simple or complex, the cold hard fact remains that – if you want to bring that app to life, you’re going to need money.
If you are in the incredibly small and very lucky group of people who can afford to reach into your own pocket to do that, then you may not have any need to read on. However, if you are in the far larger segment of people who will possibly struggle to afford to get the app built, let alone build a business around it and take it to market.
Precisely how much money you are going to need in order to achieve the above depends entirely on the complexity, size and ambitions you have for your app. An average app is going to cost somewhere between £10,000 and £100,000 to develop. On top of which you’re going to need to consider the cost of marketing the app so your target market can be made aware that it exists.
But if you’re baulking at those figures, there is hope ahead. There are many places where you can raise the finances you need (at low personal risk) in order to fund your app idea.
Government Grant Funding
The government provides large funds to support, kick-start and invigorate innovation within the economy. These are constantly being refreshed and renewed. When the deadline for applying for one closes, a new grant fund opens. As such, there are numerous chances and opportunities to go for a grant.
Being governmental, these funds require applications to be submitted in a specific format, require you to jump through a number of hoops and provide details that tick their boxes.
Grants can range between £20,000 and £200,000 on average. Though some offer less and some offer more. Either way, achieving these grants can indeed give you a great platform for taking your idea from just a simple idea into something that can be developed into a usable product.
You can visit https://www.gov.uk/topic/government/government-funding-programmes to find out more about what kind of funding programmes are running and available.
It is also something that we can help you with. Many of our clients use Government grants as a first step on the path to funding. We have specialists experienced in grant applications who can help submit these on your behalf.
University Innovation Funding
In a similar vein to governmental grant funding, many universities also offer innovation funds. These tend to run differently for different universities.
Some will offer the funding with the caveat that you take on a number of their students as interns to work on your app project. Others will take an equity stake in your business but take no firm role in its running or its management. Whereas there are some that offer the grants with few or no strings attached.
Similarly to the government, they tend to offer these funds through an application process, which again require a number of hoops to be jumped through and boxes to be ticked. But there are ways to accelerate the process or skip the queue to some degree.
Both of which we can again help with.
Private Equity Funding
The most common form of funding most people have heard of when it comes to tech company funding is private equity. This is where a private investor or investment fund representing lots of investors, will in essence, buy an equity stake in your business.
This purchase will put a large sum of money into your company’s pocket and give you a significant war chest with which to launch your business.
Typically, these investments are larger, ranging from £150,000 upwards. Some businesses have had £20-30m invested in them at start up stage, with even larger sums following on. In addition, they typically come with the input, expertise, acumen, contacts, connections and door-opening cache that the deep-pocketed investor brings to the table.
As such, they can be hugely powerful and massive catalysts for funding your app or idea. With a few million pounds worth of investment you are immediately propelled from a small idea into a business with real resources, real punch and a real opportunity to go somewhere and do something significant.
Equity investors expect you to have a robust business plan, a well-thought-out marketing plan, realistic financial projections and, above all, a great pitch deck to really sell them the idea.
They’ll want to see a good plan, a team around you and be inspired by the idea and filled with a confidence that you can make it happen.
Funding your App Idea
This is where we specialise. We take you through a programme of steps and processes that will culminate in a fully investment-ready business model for you to take to investors, or for us to take to investors with you.
For more information on getting your app idea funded please get in touch with us today on 0203 150 0565 or drop us an email at info@thealtitudeagency.com.
