Research Guides: Financing Your Business: Equity Financing/Investors

Finding sources of equity financing

Equity financing, where you obtain financing from investors, can be in the form of
- angel/seed investors (startup stage)
- venture capital investors (early stage, pre-profitability)
- private equity investors (mid to later stage, demonstrated profitability)
The business owner seeking equity financing usually offers a share in the business to investors in exchange for funding.
Lists of equity sources can be found in-
- SBA approved Small Business Investment Companies (SBIC)
- S&P Capital IQ (electronic database accessible in the Thomas Yoseloff Business Center)
- PrivCo (electronic database accessible in the Thomas Yoseloff Business Center)
- Zephyr (electronic database accessible in the Thomas Yoseloff Business Center) use the Zephyr Advanced search to get to the Private Equity tab
- Pratt's Guide to Venture Capital & Private Equity Sources
- Guide to Venture Capital & Private Equity Firms: Domestic & International with Separate Canadian Section
Advantage of equity financing: you have no debt to pay back.
Disadvantage of equity financing: you will have to give up some control of your business and/or a percentage of the profit.