Sam Simpson

You're seeking that all-important funding to catapult you to the next level.

YET despite how motivated you are and how good your business idea is, you may still struggle to…

▫️ Get funding because of the advance assurance needed
▫️ Afford the production of expensive legal paperwork
▫️ Know-how to find those elusive investors.

Simplifying and accelerating the early-stage investment legal journey, FounderCatalyst is the ONLY affordable fixed price method of funding round legals for start-ups.

WHO WE HELP
Pre-incorporation to start-ups in England & Wales that want expert AND affordable help with SEIS & EIS and the legal process and documentation required to complete their funding journey. 

3 WAYS WE HELP
1. Apply for SEIS & EIS advance assurance
2. Produce all legal funding round paperwork and manage investor engagement
3. Introduce start-ups to possible sources of funding.

Enjoy the relief all of the legal paperwork you need in as little as 30 minutes and your investor engagement managed through the process.  

PROOF WE HELP
✅  Complete fixed price service per funding round just £1,495 +vat
✅  99% success rate for advance assurance
✅  Legal paperwork produced in just 30 minutes.

YOUR NEXT STEP
Haven’t yet got your funding legals sorted and you’re determined to give your start-up the best and most affordable chance of success?

Book a chat at https://calendly.com/sam-fc/meet

Thanks for viewing my profile.

Sam

"Founders seeking to raise equity finance - use this service! It’s simple to use, reliable & secure, & provides unrivalled value for money. You're in complete control of your fundraising process & timescales." Jules & Charlie, Founders, The Nue Co

FREE RESOURCES
Because we’re here to help start-ups, we offer the following for free:

✅  SEIS/EIS advance assurance submission
✅  Customised Term Sheet
✅  Template Forecast Models
✅  Founder Collaboration Agreements

Visit: foundercatalyst.com to find out more and access the freebies.

SPECIALITIES: Start-up, Startup, Start Up Funding, Funding Round, Funding, Investment, Investor, Investor Engagement, Angel Investor, SEIS, EIS

Co-Founder and CCO

Forge Technologies is a digital IT services business focusing on three technology pillars; Future workplace, Cloud optimisation and Network transformation. Forge has no legacy infrastructure that it needs to deliver returns against; no costly office space, external investors or banking covenants and unencumbered from legacy working practices that have to be turned on their head to adapt to new working practices.

Within Forge Technologies, I am responsible for all aspects of commercial and back office services.

The most anticipated day of the year is here – “The Deal 2026” has been released by our friends at Beauhurst.  Hat tip to Henry Whorwood and team

Here are the headline UK funding trends at a glance.

2025 vs 2024:
📉⁠ ⁠Deal numbers down by 7.87%
📈 ⁠Total capital raised up by 3.43% (£800m more deployed)
⬆️ ⁠Average deal size up by 12.6%
🥇⁠ ⁠First-time fundraises up by 23.6%

Overall summary: Fewer deals but more capital per deal and more new companies entering the market.

Stage trends:
👉 ⁠Seed and Venture: Deal counts have softened compared with recent peaks, but remain above pre-2020 levels.
🐢⁠ ⁠Venture: Shows the clearest slowdown in activity.
📈⁠ ⁠Growth: Average deal size dropped (from ~£25.9m to ~£18.6m), indicating more caution in later-stage rounds.
💰Average seed valuation has softened notably, from £2.45m in 2023 to £2.04m in 2025. Though the % drop is not as crazy as growth (down from £27.2m in 2021 to £18.6m in 2025)

Sector trends:
🤖⁠ ⁠AI leads in both number of deals and total capital raised.
☁️⁠ ⁠Cloud computing ranks among the lowest by deal volume and capital raised.

Takeaway:  The fundraising market has become more selective, there are fewer rounds but larger average cheques, more first-time founders raising and strong concentration in AI.

Want to know more? Link in the comments?

Want to know how FounderCatalyst (the most cost effective, fastest growing and highest rated fund raising platform in the UK) can support your funding round?  Drop me a message 👏

Serial Entrepreneur, Board Advisor ▫️ Founder at FounderCatalyst, the ONLY affordable fixed price method of funding round legals for start-ups ▫️ CCO at Forge Technologies

💡 Planning your fundraise for the end of the UK tax year but not sure where to start?  Let’s fix that! 

🚀 Fundraising & S/EIS

I’m excited to be teaming up with Manchester Digital for a live session where I’ll be breaking down how founders can approach fundraising with confidence.

In this practical, no-fluff webinar, I’ll walk you through the full funding landscape - from grants and debt to equity - and help you understand which route is right for your business. I’ll also demystify SEIS and share insider tips to help you get the most out of this powerful scheme.

You’ll learn:
✔️ Funding options: Grants vs Debt vs Equity
✔️ Understanding equity types: Angels, VCs, and Crowdfunding
✔️ The benefits of SEIS for founders and investors
✔️ Advance assurance: why it matters and how to get it
✔️ SEIS myths, secrets, and practical tips
✔️ Live Q&A + useful resources

🗓️ Tuesday, 21 January 2026

🕛 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM (UK Time)

💻 Online Webinar

👉 Save your spot now: https://lnkd.in/eJcsti_f

#Fundraising #SEIS #EIS #StartupFunding #FounderCatalyst #StartupWebinar #InvestorReady

On Friday 23rd January at midday, we are starting the first in a series of 6 webinars to kickoff the 2026 fundraising season. You can expect a practical, founder-focused session designed to help you turn early traction into a business investors want to back.

Hosted by myself (FounderCatalyst) and Hatty Fawcett from Focused For Business in this no-fluff hour we’ll go back to basics and help you assess your investor readiness, strengthen your foundations, and avoid the common mistakes that stop founders from raising early-stage capital:

✅ What investors actually look for in early-stage startups
✅ How to position your story and metrics to attract serious investor interest
✅ The most common gaps that derail fundraising (and how to fix them early) 
✅ How SEIS/EIS can make your round more attractive to UK investors, and why it pays to get Advance Assurance in place early

Secure your FREE spot here: https://luma.com/iqm7b745

Very proud that FounderCatalyst supported Saleem Yaqub and the Shoutt team with their recent close of >£500k from SFC Capital and others.

The unique FounderCatalyst model meant that Shoutt paid a fixed fee of just £1,495+vat - less than a third of the price of the (more expensive, lower Trustpilot rated) "market leader".  

Thinking of fundraising?  Lets talk 🤙

Co-Founder @ Shoutt | Freelance smarter with AI

Today we announced our £525k pre-seed round with SFC Capital and angels.

But this didn’t start with a pitch deck or a funding round.

Multiple pivots. And countless hours spent manually checking hundreds of websites and sifting through thousands of opportunities to understand the market and train our models. 

Shoutt is an always-on AI agent that finds and delivers highly relevant gigs to freelancers from across the web. 

Jonathan Eadie and I come from different backgrounds, tech and non-tech, and that combination has turned out to be one of our biggest advantages. Different lenses. Better decisions.

A few key learnings:
• Neither of us could have done this alone. Great companies are built in partnership
• Your first hires matter more than almost anything else (character over CV) 
• Persistence compounds, every failure gets you one step closer

Freelancers deserve independence, freedom, and tools that work for them. Not being reliant on a few big players that extract value, waste time, or flood them with junk.

A huge thanks to everyone who backed us early, challenged us, and believed in us.

We’re excited to continue to push the frontier of applied AI in helping freelancers globally with their independence, success and freedom. 🚀

Full details in comments below.

🚨 Free 60-min Session | Funding Options for Growth

Raising funds but not sure which route makes the most sense right now?

Join me (FounderCatalyst) and the awesome Ciaran Burke from Swoop for a high-impact session on how grants, growth-friendly debt, and equity investment can support your next stage of growth.

You’ll learn:
 ✔️ Which option fits your business right now
 ✔️ Key pros/cons of grants vs debt vs equity
 ✔️ What to prepare before you raise
 ✔️ Live Q&A

👉 Save your spot: https://lnkd.in/eWtmeerh

#Fundraising #StartupFunding #Grants #DebtFinance

🚨 Less than 1 week to go!

If you’re planning to offer equity, make sure your option scheme is set up properly from day one. I’m running a practical session on EMI and unapproved option schemes, with clear steps and real-world guidance.

Join us for:
✔️ Scheme setup
✔️ EMI valuations
✔️ Vesting design
✔️ Compliance essentials
✔️ Live Q&A
👉 Save your place: https://lnkd.in/e3bYKA5H

#EquityIncentives #EMI #StartupEquity #FounderCatalyst #EmployeeOptions

Barry Klipp

InterLnkd

Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Bain & Company

Expert advisor on commercial projects, across high profile clients in the consumer goods, travel and airline industries, covering areas including loyalty, ancillary, revenue management, digital transformation and digital consumer journeys.

Bain Advisor Network 

easyJet

Member of the Executive Leadership Team (Top 50), reporting directly to the board of directors to lead a key pillar of future strategic airline plans to win in the business travel space (B2B).

Designed, executed and led a clear growth omnichannel strategy, maintaining strategic alignment with senior stakeholders across the business, for continued success.

Created and implemented a set of new products to facilitate high-value consumer experience and deliver maximum return on investment, alongside a new digital sales and distribution strategy to maximise reach and revenue.

Accountable for managing and growing the existing high-value key clients to improve profitability and performance.

Direct line leadership of cross European market Business Development Teams

Strategy Director

AirAsia

Reported directly to the Group CEO responsible for developing group-wide B2C strategy to drive ancillary revenue across 9 airlines, within the AirAsia Group.

Led innovation of e-commerce developments to transition from traditional website to an online market place, offering multi products to drive incremental revenue streams.

Designed and implemented a subscription-based service to generate a new and continuous revenue stream to the business.

Owned and developed pricing levers to maximise take-up rate of key ancillary products.

Man management of all core and non-core Ancillary teams, across multiple countries of operation.

AirAsia Group Director of Ancillary Revenue

Reported directly to the owners as a member of the senior leadership team.

Defined and led the business development strategy to maximise top-line revenue across the 3 key business areas within the AirAsia X Group, across all countries of operation, through the setting and communication of clear commercial omnichannel strategies and directing their implementation.

Led and drove all commercial functions including Trading, Pricing, Network, Marketing, Sales & Distribution, Brand and Ancillary.

Constantly reviewed new opportunities, through stringent market research and competitor analysis, while also negotiating closely with key stakeholders to deliver successful new routes by minimising cost and maximising revenue. 

Sought out key partnerships to elevate brand awareness in breakthrough markets and improve the customer proposition.

AirAsia X Group Chief Commercial

Grew corporate sales revenue (x6) across 9 airlines within the AirAsia Group.

Identified a significant SME opportunity and conceptualised and executed a new  e-commerce corporate revenue driver called MyCorporate.

Introduced new products to capture the business market, working closely with operations and finance to improve seamlessness for the corporate customer to deliver service excellence.

Built new corporate functional teams and focus across every country of operation to tap the higher-yielding customer segment.

Group Head of Corporate Sales

Singapore Airlines

Led a key project reporting to the Executive Vice President Commercial and alongside a number of external consultants to identify and implement levers to drive significant new revenue opportunities.

Held a number of progressive roles within Global Corporate Sales, including Head of Corporate Engagement, Head of Partnerships (Lifestyle, Hotel and Fashion suppliers) and Head of Corporate Sales Strategy. 

Undertook complete overview of global account management and industry strategy to drive significant revenue growth. 

Managed EMEA, Asia, SWP and America based sales teams, honing strong cultural understanding and management skills.

Overseas Executive Management Programme

Reported directly to the Regional Vice President Europe, strategy lead for EMEA Sales teams: conceptualised, developed and implemented new European corporate sales strategy that increased revenue by 40% within the first year. 

Management of high-value industries of Lifestyle, Fashion, Consumer Goods,  Finance, Oil & Gas and Basic Materials, Consumer Goods and Services, Pharmaceutical and Technology.

Instrumental in developing a new global sales structure for Singapore Airlines.

Regional Corporate Manager Europe

Man management of nine team members, including day-to-day management, appraisals, leadership and motivation.
Budget management including Advertising and PR budget planning.
Overseeing PR, including managing and working with the appointed PR Agency.  
Management of partners including creative agency and buying agency.
Management of industry partners, including hotel, lifestyle and leisure.
Identifying and growing new distribution channels, specifically digital to significantly grow internet penetration.
Strategic business management, including price, placement, product management and brand protection.

Market Development Manager UK & Ireland

Management Trainee leading to Marketing Executive & Sales Executive

Junior Marketing Manager

Corporate Senior Executive turned Entrepreneur, with extensive experience in the travel industry, operating internationally and at senior level within global, multi-function, cross-matrix organisations. A persuasive, engaging communicator, who drives leadership teams to deliver both strategic development and commercial success. Demonstrable track record at local, regional and global levels spanning B2B and B2C operations.

taplio

The Battle

Sam Simpson

Barry Klipp

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreSam Simpson's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Sam Simpson

Barry Klipp

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Sam Simpson's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreSam Simpson's LinkedIn Performance