TechForge Accelerator Workshop 5: Bagging Your First Investment - Raising Funds from Personal Connections, Angels, Banks and the Crowd

14 May 2026 9:45 - 12:15

The TechForge Accelerator from Business Sheffield comprises of 5 in-person workshop sessions designed to support the needs of technology-centred startups, especially those involving software. The TechForge Accelerator is best suited to founders who are at an early stage – for example you might just have an idea, be working on a prototype (or MVP), or have done some initial trading.

You can book into one or more workshops in the series, depending on your needs. The workshops last just over 2 hours with an opportunity to network at the end.

In this final session of the TechForge Accelerator for tech startups, we discuss a range of options for raising investment into your business. Whether you need £5,000 or £500,000, many founders find that they just cannot move forward without some external investment. Thankfully, there are several options out there including Debt (borrowing), Equity (sale of shares in the business) and Crowdfunding (from the general public). This session gives you a tour of these options and helps you understand which are for you. We look at more detail on equity investment too and cover some of the things you will need to know, to pull off your first deal.

The session will be led by one of our highly experienced Tech Scale-Up Advisors.

Book Here

Other sessions:

More session in this series

TechForge Accelerator Workshop 1: From Side Hustle to Startup - The Journey Ahead for Tech Founders

16 Apr 2026 9:30 - 12:30

The first workshop in this series gives you an overview of the ‘journey ahead’. As well as the providing you with a tried and tested routemap, the session is full of practical advice and tips on some of the steps you will need to take, and pitfalls to avoid, in order to create a strong foundation for your software-based startup.

Find out more

TechForge Accelerator Workshop 4: Building Your First Version (aka MVP): Tips and Tricks for Getting it Right!

07 May 2026 9:30 - 12:30

The penultimate session of our Accelerator for tech startups covers the all-important step of building your first (software) prototype, sometimes known as an Minimum Viable Product or MVP. In this session, we cover why an MVP is such a critical stage and how you can get it right. We go on to help you work out what should be in an MVP and what should not, appraise several different routes for achieving an MVP and give tips on how to manage the project.

Find out more

TechForge Accelerator Workshop 2: Free Money & Support - Grants, Accelerators and Other Opportunities for Tech Startups

23 Apr 2026 9:30 - 12:30

The second session of our Accelerator for tech startups is an introduction to the many forms of support, both financial and non-financial, that can help enormously as you grow your business. We explain the benefits of Accelerators and Incubators, Mentoring and Networking and how to make the most of these, as well as offering a quick tour of various Grants that you might be eligible for.

Find out more

TechForge Accelerator Workshop 3: How to Generate Income - Monetisation & Pricing Strategies for Tech Startups

30 Apr 2026 9:30 - 12:30

The third session in our Accelerator for tech startups looks at a variety of methods for generating income (so-called Monetisation). Whether you are planning to charge fees or subscriptions or are exploring some of the more unusual routes such as ad revenue or digital currencies, there may be options you haven’t spotted before.

Find out more