What kind of businesses can be listed on Foundy?

Foundy is open for all companies including, but not limited to, SaaS, eCommerce, agency, Web3, marketplace, insurtech, recruit tech, fintech, health/med tech etc. 

Sellers can list their companies, free of charge, and begin receiving bids from investors/acquirers within days.

Please note, each seller listing is subject to a screening review to determine if it can be approved by the Foundy team to go live in the marketplace. 

Is my personal information stored by Foundy and what are the terms and conditions for users?

At Foundy, we take data protection very seriously.  

Please find our privacy policy here.

Similarly, we encourage you to read through the terms and conditions for users here (this includes anyone that creates an account on Foundy.com including buyers, sellers and 3rd party advisors).

Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions about either the security or processing of your personal and company information, or our terms and conditions. 

How much does Foundy cost to use?

It is FREE to create an account and list as either a seller or a buyer on Foundy’s marketplace. 

Seller Fees

There is only a small percentage fee payable upon a successful acquisition or securing investment. From our research, our costs are 2 to 5x lower than traditional brokers, many of whom charge 10 to 15% commission. By only charging a success fee, our interests are aligned as Foundy only earns revenue when you successfully secure the acquisition or investment. 

Our expert team will be available to provide dedicated support via Instant chat, email and Zoom call to help you along the process towards your acquisition or securing your investment. Moreover, our educational resources section which includes helpful blogs, tutorials and podcasts are free to access and will hopefully save you thousands or 10’s of thousands that you may have otherwise incurred if you were entirely reliant on external advisors to answer your questions.

Acquisition success fees (charged on the total valuation following a completed deal):

• 3% success fee for acquisitions at a valuation of $750,000 or less 
• 2% success fee for acquisitions at a valuation of $750,001 to $2 million
• 1.5% success fee for acquisitions at a valuation of $2,000,001 to $5 million
• 1% success fee for acquisitions at a valuation higher than $5,000,001

Investment and secondary share sale success fees (charged on the total money secured following a completed deal): 

• 4% success fee on the total amount of money that your company (including shareholders) receives from Foundy’s investor and buyer network. We ignore the valuation in this instance and only charge a success fee on the total amount of money raised from connections made via our network.

We have introduced various reasonable measures to help ensure that if you are successful in raising investment or securing an acquisition that both your company and Foundy are fairly rewarded based on the pricing laid out above. This platform has been built to provide affordable and convenient access to buyers, investors and dedicated support and in turn Foundy hopes to succeed when our startup network and their respective shareholders succeed. 

Buyer Fees

It is FREE to create a buyer account and search through the marketplace. Free buyer accounts are titled “Comet Buyers” (Comet is a fun spin that is aligned with Foundy’s space theme). If you are then interested in speaking with any startup sellers then there is a one off annual fee to upgrade to a “Star Buyer” account. As a Star Buyer you are granted 12 months access to the ability to contact up to 20 sellers a day in order to initiate due diligence and explore acquiring or investing in the company. As a verified Star Buyer, you gain access to an exclusive forum of buyers and it demonstrates to the startup world that you are a serious buyer or investor too.  

The cost is €190.00 for 12 months access as a Star Buyer.

However, until 24th July 2022 we have REMOVED the ‘Star Buyer’ fee so it is FREE to contact sellers. 

Are seller listings and buyer profiles on Foundy private?

We recognise that many startup buyers and sellers may wish to remain anonymous. Buyers and sellers are required to write their public profile without revealing information that will reveal their identity. Seller and buyers can maintain complete anonymity on the public marketplace until they find particular buyers or sellers that they are interested in working with. Then they can choose to reveal their personal or organisation’s name and any documents they have uploaded such as pitch decks, financial summaries and Linkedin details. If sellers have NOT selected to automatically reveal their identity when they receive messages from buyers, then they can manually review each buyer profile that messages them and determine which ones they wish to reveal their identity to and share further information with. 

Can I get advice on valuations, legal and due diligence from Foundy for my sale?

Yes. We can provide guidance to sellers on the valuation process, legal and due diligence by referring to our professional experience previously buying and selling companies; available market data and trends; and external advisors. We are also available to chat via a number of mediums, including Foundy instant chat, email and calls. 

However, as Foundy is not currently regulated by the Financial Services Authority, we cannot give specific investment advice to a buyer regarding suitability for an investment, nor to a seller regarding the calculated valuation of your company, nor can we provide extensive legal or accountancy advice. 

Fortunately, we have plenty of invaluable experience to share with you as to how the M&A process works. Our resources, including the Insights section of the website, which is dedicated to providing knowledge, via blogs, tutorials and podcasts, to help startup sellers and buyers learn in areas of setting valuations, legals and due diligence. We refer to latest information, tips, tools and hints to provide you with help in these key areas. 

Foundy also provides the ability to find and compare trusted professional M&A advisors who have extensive experience in managing acquisition processes. These include negotiation experts, accountants and legal experts from corporates, startups and independent advisors.

Our list of in-house advisory services and products is continually growing with the help of our technology team, so remember to check back in the coming months! 

How do conversations between buyers and sellers take place on Foundy?

Buyers and sellers can interact on Foundy by messaging each other using the chat function on the website. To use this chat function, both parties will need to have had their profiles verified. Foundy’s screening process allows our members to feel secure in the knowledge that that they have a good idea who they are conversing with, while also preventinguser accounts with false details from being used and minimising bad faith negotiations. 

We ask our members to aim to reply to messages within 24-48 hours if possible – leaving questions unanswered can be frustrating for both parties and hinders a smooth acquisition process. Inactivity may lead to your account being removed from the marketplace.

Why should I use Foundy’s escrow facility to process the acquisition or investment transaction?

By working with Foundy’s escrow facility, your information and your payment is protected under our Terms of Service. Foundy has partnered with escrow.com, a word leader in facilitating large payments between businesses and individuals. They have processed over $10 billion worth of transactions via their secure platform and have facilitated the acquisition of 10’s of thousands of businesses. We selected to partner with escrow.com for their experience and reliability. 

If the sale is not made through Foundy, unfortunately, we cannot help to protect you from fraud or other security risks. If someone asks you to send or receive payment for a listing on Foundy outside of our system, please report this to our Support team via [email protected]. This directly conflicts with our terms and conditions. Likewise, if you suspect someone of having false details on their profile, let our Support team know and we will urgently investigate it. 

I’m a professional M&A advisor, how can I be added to the list of trusted advisors? 

We’re happy to hear that you are interested in joining Foundy’s list of trusted advisors! To apply, please contact our support team provide clear insight into your relevant experience in any of the following areas: due diligence, negotiation, accounting and law. 

[email protected] – and we will get straight back to you!We are looking to work with leading professionals who have experience in facilitating the acquisition of companies or completing funding rounds. 

Can I edit my profile after it’s been shared? 

If you would like to update your profile, include new information or correct a mistake, we welcome you to do so. Please keep in mind that buyers/sellers may be making decisions based on the details in your profile, so it’s important to be as accurate and transparent as possible. 

Any further changes made will be subject to verification by the Foundy team.

What is the process once I have decided to accept an offer? 

Buyers will typically want to conduct due-diligence, which can take some time depending on the type of business. Make sure that you are ready to present key documents to prepare for this process. Foundy’s resources, including blogs and podcasts, can inform you about what documents to prepare and how to present them. 

Foundy’s team will work with you and guide you to take as much stress out of the sale process as possible. You will always be strongly recommended to seek your own independent legal, tax and financial advice prior to concluding a sale. Foundy’s team of trusted experts are available for legal, financial or general advisory help too. 

What can I do to increase the number of views on my listing?

Typically, buyers will search for start-ups using filters to find the listings most relevant to their criteria. This can include valuation budget, industry, location, number of employees, average annual revenue, age, etc. So make sure that you are making your listing as detailed and accurate as possible so that you can be connected to the right buyers and investors for you. 

For example, in your description, answer additional questions including but not limited to::

• The average cost per unit
• Current customer acquisition cost versus life time value of customer (growth efficiency ratio)
• The characteristics and buying habits of your customer base
• The location where the products are made
• Your current feedback rating on review platforms

A visually compelling listing will also attract more buyers – include a visually engaging pitch deck in your private information section to share with selected buyers you are interested in potentially working with.

Remember that whilst a listing with higher buyer activity is likely to have high buyer interest, this does not mean that listings with lower activity goes unseen – all you need is the right buyer!

Seller: “I am not interested in selling my company now but I will do at a later date. In the meantime, how can I increase my Startup’s Valuation?”

• Reduce your burn rate so investors see that the business has a clearer and faster path to profitability, and that their investment will last longer.
• Strengthen your brand presence by producing unique, relevant and well managed marketing campaigns both on the Founder’s personal Linkedin profile and company social media pages.
• Show a graph of traction, hopefully showing growth in turnover and customers year-on-year. If you have neither, show growth in retention / partnership deals / partner interest / user testimonials.
• Accelerate customer growth through conversion rate optimisation and affiliate partnerships
• Raise revenue by strengthening the UX of the funnel that shift customers from free to paid
• Lower customer acquisition costs by improving SEO
• Gain SEIS/ EIS compliance to provide tax savings to investors
• Stimulate a culture of continuous innovation and seek to minimise the cost through R&D tax credits
• Lower costs by becoming a remote team
• Lower costs by automating workflows such as integrating AI chat bots
• Acquire suppliers or companies in parallel markets in order to reduce CAC and cross sell to increase LTV.

Foundy can help you and guide you with all of these ideas – chat with us on the website, email us or give us a call!

How should a buyer undertake due diligence?

As a buyer, before going through with an acquisition, it is important that you do your due diligence on the start up seller listing. It is recommended that you complete a comprehensive analysis on the company and its respective assets and possible liabilities that you intend on buying. We encourage you to be efficient, communicative and transparent with your questions to the startup seller to ensure neither party wastes time or resources.  

Are the details of a start-up visible to other members once I register? 

Sellers have a public profile which includes headline descriptions, key metrics and basic descriptions about the start up. This will help to attract initial buyer interest. This profile is publicly available to view by other startup sellers as well as both “Commet Buyers” (Free) and “Star Buyers” (upgraded buyer service) who have created an account with us. 

Only sellers and buyers who have created a profile and have been approved by Foundy’s team can access the marketplace to see the public profiles of buyers and sellers. .

If startup sellers wish to share further information with selected potential buyers, some “private information”, including a pitch deck and financial summary, can be shared. If you want to take extra measures to ensure that your details remain private between you and prospective buyers that you choose to engage with, you may consider requesting the buyer to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement before sharing your information – the choice is yours.

Thank you for learning more about Foundy. We are updating our FAQ regularly in order to best serve our rapidly growing community.