Are you ready for an investor to dig in?
A free fundraising-readiness audit (Readiness v1 (2026)), in plain English. Answer honestly, then cross-check against your public Companies House record — we'll flag every contradiction, the way diligence does. No login, nothing stored.
This is a readiness / gap report to help you prepare — not investment advice, not legal advice, and not a guarantee of any fundraising outcome.
Company standing & filings
The basics an investor's lawyer checks first: is the company alive and in good standing, with its statutory filings up to date?
Is the company currently 'active' at Companies House — not dormant, dissolved, in liquidation, or subject to a proposal to strike off?
A company that's being struck off or wound up can't take investment until that's reversed — it's a hard stop for any investor.
Why this matters to an investor
A 'proposal to strike off' (usually triggered by missed filings) or any insolvency status halts a share subscription: directors can't validly allot shares, and an investor's counsel will refuse to close until the register shows the company restored and active.
Hard stop — a “No” here would stall a raise on its own.
Are your annual accounts filed and not overdue at Companies House?
Overdue accounts are the single most common thing that stalls diligence — a partner sees it in seconds.
Why this matters to an investor
Overdue accounts carry automatic penalties and can trigger strike-off action, but the real cost is signalling: it reads as a company that can't keep its own house in order, right when you're asking someone to trust your numbers.
Is your confirmation statement (the annual 'still accurate' filing) filed and not overdue?
The confirmation statement confirms your registered details (officers, PSCs, share capital) once a year. An overdue one reads as neglect.
Is the company free of any insolvency history (past administration, liquidation, CVA, or receivership)?
A prior insolvency event isn't necessarily fatal, but it must be disclosed and explained — never discovered by the investor.
Ownership & people with significant control
Whether the ownership you'd show investors is consistent with the public record — the first place a discrepancy in your cap table shows up.
Does the ownership picture you'd show investors match the People with Significant Control (PSC) register at Companies House?
If your deck describes four founders but the PSC register lists a fifth significant shareholder — or none at all — that gap gets found.
Is your PSC register at Companies House complete and up to date (every 25%+ holder correctly listed)?
An empty or stale PSC register is both a compliance breach and a red flag about who really controls the company.
Have you disclosed every person or entity holding 25%+ of the company (including via a holding company or nominee) to prospective investors?
Undisclosed significant holders — especially through a nominee or an overseas holding company — are exactly what diligence is designed to surface.
Debt & security interests
Whether there's registered debt secured against the company that ranks ahead of equity — and whether an investor already knows about it.
Is the company free of registered debt or security interests (charges, debentures, mortgages) that an investor doesn't already know about?
A charge means someone has security over the company's assets that ranks ahead of your new investor's equity.
Why this matters to an investor
Registered charges determine the liquidation waterfall: secured creditors are paid before any equity. An undisclosed debenture (common with bank loans, invoice finance, or a Bounce Back / CBILS-type loan) can materially change what an investor's shares are actually worth in a downside.
If you've raised any debt (bank loans, invoice finance, government-backed loans, convertible loan notes), are ALL of them disclosed in your data room?
This includes debt that isn't a registered charge — convertible notes, director loans, deferred consideration.
Directors, governance & consistency
Whether the board and the company's public description are stable and consistent with the story you're telling investors.
Has your board and director group been stable — with no cluster of director resignations in a short window?
Several directors leaving close together is a classic 'something happened here' signal that diligence will ask about.
Do your registered SIC codes at Companies House still reflect what the company actually does today?
After a pivot, founders often forget to update their SIC codes — so the public record describes a business that no longer exists.
Is your registered office a genuine working or professional address — not solely a formation-agent / mail-forwarding address that has nothing to do with where you operate?
A virtual office that doesn't match your stated location isn't fatal, but combined with other gaps it feeds a 'is this real?' worry.
Disclosure & data-room readiness
Whether, when a partner finally asks, you can hand over a clean, internally consistent set of documents without scrambling.
Do you have a data room prepared — cap table, incorporation documents, key contracts, IP assignments and financials — ready to share on request?
Momentum dies when a founder needs two weeks to assemble basic documents after a partner asks. Have it ready before you go out.
Are your cap table and share register internally consistent — issued shares, options and any SAFEs reconcile, with no ambiguity about who owns what on conversion?
SAFEs and option pools that don't cleanly reconcile to 100% on conversion are one of the most common cap-table problems a lawyer finds. (Our cap-table audit checks this from an upload.)
Cross-check against Companies House (optional, recommended)
Enter your UK company number (or name) and we'll compare your answers to your public filings — flagging any ⚠️ contradictions, just like a VC associate would. Public data only, nothing stored.
Leave blank for a questionnaire-only check.