FirstCapital | Our Clients - Founders and CEOs

Founders and CEOs

Building a successful business is often a life-long dream. It demands considerable personal investment of time and energy and money. It’s essential that you can rely on those you do business with – especially when the future is at stake. You need people you can trust to give you objective and expert advice and to help you maximise your value.

What can you expect from FirstCapital

Director-level experience: Our directors have decades of experience in investment banking and have advised on transactions from a few millions to multi-billions. We've led domestic, cross border and international deals, and advised on IPOs, joint ventures, mergers, acquisitions and capital raising. We are calm in the face of complex deal dynamics, and creative in structuring solutions.

Value maximisation: We understand the key drivers of value in a business and in a transaction and we will help strengthen your value proposition and your strategic positioning ahead of a transaction. Our track record demonstrates our ability to maximise value for our clients.

Tailored advice: Our knowledge of current market conditions and activity and our understanding of investor/acquirer needs mean that you can rely on us to identify the best options to suit your objectives.

Market leading success rates: Our track record of high success rates is a testament to our ability to close a transaction successfully.

Best fit partner: Our global network of strong relationships with potential investors and acquirers means we can identify and reach the right partners for your business, wherever they are located.

An extra right hand: We commit a team, led personally by a FirstCapital director, to work with you to shoulder the load from start to finish. You can focus on your business, ensuring it doesn't suffer from any deal-related distractions.

Satisfied stakeholders: Our ability and tact in managing the needs (often differing) of multiple stakeholders to keep them on side and fully informed throughout the deal, contributes to our high success rates on deals.

Timely transactions: Our rigorous project management of the entire process, including due diligence, ensures a timely and successful completion.

Trust and reliability: We are recognised for our integrity, professionalism and trustworthiness and we can be relied on to give you independent, candid and pragmatic advice so that you can pursue the options which deliver you the best results.

Do you need to raise capital?

As a founder or CEO of a growing business, you don’t lack for things to do. Preparing and running a fundraising process, in addition to your day job, takes considerable additional resource and effort. We will commit a team of people, led by one of our senior directors, to work with you as part of your senior management team to considerably lighten the load.

Positioning and preparing businesses for fundraising, finding the right investors and getting the deal done is embedded in our DNA. It’s what we do every day. We understand the needs of investors, and how to communicate to them in language they understand and respond to. We have extensive networks, developed over more than a decade, across the investment community. We can quickly identify and contact the right people to talk to. Furthermore, we bring to the table an objective and accurate view of current market conditions and trends, to help you negotiate the deal that brings the most value to you. We don’t just leave it there, however, we are actively involved in project managing the due diligence process, working alongside you right through to the transaction close.

Tell me more about your Raising Capital service, expertise and track record

Are you thinking about your exit?

The difference between doing it well and doing it badly can mean millions of euros in value in the sale of your business. Utilising an experienced, skilled adviser can make all the difference.

We can help you prepare your business for a successful exit and optimise the value of your sale. We have decades of experience of transactions with some of the world’s largest technology companies and a profound understanding of how to ensure that our clients get the best possible deal. We provide invaluable extra resource to help you prepare the business, articulate the value proposition, and manage the process. This means you can remain focussed on running your business, itself a core requirement of any successful transaction. Furthermore our global network of contacts amongst potential acquirers means that we understand who to contact and how to reach them, to ensure you are talking to the right partners. Providing skilled negotiation support and robust project management, we will stay on top of the process, driving it through to a successful conclusion.

Tell me more about your Company Sales service, expertise and track record

Looking for objective advice on your options?

Knowing what’s best for you and your business can be difficult to establish in rapidly changing, global markets, particularly if there are different interests amongst the various stakeholders in the business.

As an independent expert, we can provide an accurate view of current market conditions and trends, review your possible options and advise the best course of action to take to meet your specific needs and objectives.

Tell me more about your Strategic Advice service, expertise and track record

Want to have an informal discussion?

It can often be helpful to talk through ideas, issues and possible options with an objective third-party who can bring market insight, a fresh perspective and help formulate a plan.

We meet and talk with business founders and CEOs every day and understand the challenges you face. You can be sure of complete confidentiality so don’t hesitate to get in touch for an informal discussion.

What Our Clients Say

"FirstCapital's expertise in positioning helped us to clearly articulate the investment proposition, and they were an invaluable resource in the preparation of the materials required for the process. Their advice was thoughtful and insightful and they worked tirelessly to ensure the successful completion of the round. I valued the fact that their senior people were fully engaged throughout the process right up to completion, and they provided outstanding support. I would highly recommend them."

Patrick Newton, CEO of Helveta