Investment Readiness: What Investors Look For Before You Raise

An in-person working session for Oxfordshire SME leaders.

You must be based in Oxfordshire and have completed Enterprise Oxfordshire’s Business Support Tool since the 1st of November 2025 to attend this event. If you purchase a ticket without completing this, your ticket will be cancelled. Business Support Tool - Enterprise Oxfordshire Business

Raising money is rarely won on the idea alone. Investors back businesses that are credible, prepared, and able to turn capital into growth. Most approaches stall not because the opportunity is weak, but because the business is not yet ready to be looked at closely. This session sets out what investment ready actually means, and helps you judge where your business stands today.

The first part covers what investors look for before they commit: a leadership team that can deliver, a clear and evidenced growth plan, financial forecasts that hold up to scrutiny, a sensible use of funds, and the governance and documentation that due diligence will test. We will be just as direct about the gaps that hold businesses back - unclear positioning, financial models that do not stand up, over-reliance on the founder, and due diligence that begins too late.

The second part is a working session for the businesses in the room. It is your chance to test your own thinking, ask the awkward questions, and identify the specific gaps you would need to close before approaching an investor.

Whether you are preparing to raise equity, weighing growth or debt finance, or simply want a clear view of how investable your business is today, you will leave with a realistic picture of where you stand and the practical next steps to become more fundable.

The first step is rarely the pitch - it is knowing exactly where you stand.

Details

• Date: Thursday 16 July 2026
• Time: 1.00pm - 3.00pm
• Venue: BIPC Room, Westgate Library, Oxford

Your Expert

Phil Walker brings over 20 years of finance experience spanning FP&A, international groups, and M&A preparation, combining strategic insight with practical clarity. Previously International Finance Director at global firm InMoment, he led finance transformation and exit-readiness programmes across EMEA. Through Mettryx, he now helps SMEs build investor-grade reporting, scalable financial systems, and data-driven strategy. He is a keen advocate for demystifying finance for entrepreneurs, and for the financial storytelling that turns numbers into decisions.

About Mettryx

Mettryx provides fractional finance leadership to founder-led, scaling SMEs - the CFO and finance-director capability a growing business needs but cannot yet justify full-time. We start by establishing exactly where a business stands, then turn the numbers into clear advice, sound strategy, and the systems to act on them - finance translated into decisions, not reports for their own sake. Many of the owners we work with arrive feeling stuck: cash flow is tight, growth has stalled, the reporting does not add up, or investors are asking harder questions than the numbers can yet answer. We bring proven methods from the corporate world, adapted for fast-growing businesses, and act as advisers and sounding boards through the moments that matter most - raising investment, changing leadership, or preparing to sell. Rooted in the Thames Valley and growing across the UK, Mettryx exists to give owners clarity in the numbers and confidence in growth.