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How to raise capital during crisis if you are an early-stage company
Raising capital over the last 10 years has been relatively easy and inexpensive. This was due to the large impact of the 2008 financial crisis which led to low interest rates and cheap capital. Cheap capital triggered more risk taking from both investors and entrepreneurs, resulting in more debt and more risky assets in search for better financial returns. Abundant capital led also to unsustainable valuations particularly in tech startups.
From the regulation standpoint, the 2008 crisis led to unprecedented interest rate cuts and massive Quantitative Easing (QE) intervention from Central Banks, particularly in the US and the EU. QE strengthened bank reserves, provided banks with more liquidity, and encouraged lending and investment. As a result, the price everyone paid to borrow money was distorted leading to more risk taking. After 12 years of distorted zero percent interest rates, cheap capital is gone, and entrepreneurs need to cope with higher cost of capital, and potentially tougher fund- raising.
A continuing decline in pre-seed, series A and series B capital raise in the United States is well understood. As an entrepreneur, it is important to learn how to operate during times of crisis and market volatility. While raising capital during or after a financial crisis is harder, there are ways to do…
