Institutional Investors - An Overview

Institutional Investors refer to the group of financial organizations (such as investment companies, endowment funds, depository institutions, insurance companies, and pension funds) or high net worth individuals who invest in companies and businesses and fund their start-ups.

The institutional investors finance businesses through two ways: equity funding and debt funding.

Equity Funding Mode: Majority of businesses prefer the equity-funding mode. Such funding is provided the venture capitalists or institutional risk takers who could be large financial institutions or high net worth individuals. Such investors constantly look out for start-up businesses where they can invest their money. They prefer to invest in at least three to five year old companies that posses the potential of becoming large national players in the end. Such venture capitalists check several potential investment options annually but may choose to invest only in few of them.

The venture capitalists may choose to participate in the management strategies of the company, in which they invested. They generally play a passive role in that company’s management, however, are free to react if they do not find certain things in the management worthy from the investment perspective.

Generally, the venture capitalists do not prefer funding start-ups and financing companies in their early stages, as the level of risk associated with such companies is often high. However, there are exceptional cases, wherein, the entrepreneur has obtained such a funding pattern, if he has a proven track record in the business where he operates.

Debt Funding Mode: Debt financing is generally done through banks and is common for funding start-ups in case of small companies. Banks offer products such as short-term loans, single-purpose loans, and seasonal lines of credit to meet the financial requirements of the small companies. The banks issue such products to the customers against their personal guarantees. The lender uses the collateral, in case, the borrower defaults in repaying. Banks do not prefer to give loans for start-ups or any other purposes on a long-term basis to small companies.

Securities Offerings: Producing genuine securities offerings before the investors while seeking for their investments is must. Otherwise, your company may end up violating the Federal and State Securities Laws, which could have disastrous consequences.

Research the market well for the right contacts of private capital before structuring any deal. Check out the contract options available in the market carefully. The most popular options are – royalty financing contracts, preferred stock, and short-term mortgage loan that has a tenor of three to four years.

It is advisable to enter into a contract with a trusted entity for fulfilling the securities offering procedure for the company for the firm’s safety. Such a contract ensures that you, as an issuer, are not liable for any violation of regulatory compliance.

Alexander Gordon is a writer for http://www.smallbusinessconsulting.com - The Small Business Consulting Community. Sign-up for the free success steps newsletter and get our booklet valued at $24.95 for free as a special bonus. The newsletter provides daily strategies on starting and significantly growing a business.

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