Pre-seed
- The right company structure from day one
- SEIS advance assurance for your first cheques
- Pre-revenue VAT registration and input VAT recovery
- Founder payroll and personal tax planning
The finance function behind venture-backed growth.
Accounting and tax for VC-backed start-ups — from SEIS/EIS advance assurance and EMI share schemes to R&D tax relief, investor-grade reporting and due-diligence support. We keep your numbers a reason investors say yes.
Built for the raise
Investor-ready, always
SEIS / EIS advance assuranceApplications, compliance statements & investor certificatesEMI share option schemesValuations, grants and a clean cap tableR&D tax reliefRobust, well-documented claims for qualifying workRunway & burn reportingMonthly clarity your board can act onBoard packs & investor updatesNumbers presented the way VCs expectDue diligence & data roomsClean records that stand up to scrutiny
Why ECC for venture-backed teams
Numbers that raise rounds — and survive diligence.
Venture-backed companies are judged on their numbers long before they’re judged on their revenue. Investors expect clean books, a defensible cap table, credible forecasts and tax positions that were right the first time.
ECC has supported start-ups through pre-seed and seed rounds raising more than £1million. We act as your finance function — your CFO — so the financial side of the raise is handled while you build the product and the team.
What investors look for
- Clean, current books — reconciled monthly, on cloud software.
- A defensible cap table — share pools and options done properly.
- Credible forecasts — runway, burn and unit economics that add up.
- Tax positions that hold — SEIS/EIS, EMI and R&D done right first time.
- Fast, clean diligence — documents ready before they’re asked for.
Stage by stage
Support that scales with every round.
Seed
- EIS advance assurance and compliance statements
- EMI share option scheme and employee share pool
- R&D tax relief claims for qualifying development
- Monthly management accounts, runway & burn
Series A & beyond
- Investor-grade reporting and KPI packs
- Due-diligence preparation and data-room support
- Group structuring and share reorganisations
- Scaling payroll, pensions and spend controls
Founder finance playbooks
Financial manuals your team can actually run on.
Filing on time is table stakes. What sets funded teams apart is financial discipline — and that comes from clear, written processes. We design them with you and help you put them into practice.
Team expense management
Policy, approval limits and card controls.
Spend approvals & supplier onboarding
Who signs off what, and when.
Month-end close checklist
A fast, repeatable close every month.
Payroll & contractor onboarding
Compliant from the first hire.
Board reporting cadence
What goes to the board, and when.
Runway & burn tracking
One view of how long the money lasts.
Let’s talk
Contact us to speak with one of our experts.
We’ll be happy to answer your questions, take the time to understand your current tax and accounting position, and discuss how we can help you.