Page directory
Funding roadmap
Next steps
Description of funding sources
Overall risk mitigation
Financial scenarios
Funding roadmap (ideal scenario)
Business development
Funding sources
Revenue
Customers
Focused on developing Effio for CNC machining only
Finished preliminary tests and secured 2 interested parties to beta test
Y1: Apr 25
Testing competitor products with customers
Development of clickable-prototype, Wizard of Oz testing of features to determine relative importance
Startupbootcamp: DeepTech & Robotics
£25k
Monzo Startup Idea of the Year
£10k
Jul 25
Building single-feature MVP with chosen feature to demo to interested customers, obtain first set of feedback, and generate traction
Single-feature MVP given for free to users to test and use for their business
Pre-sale for main MVP started
Seedlegals Startup Award
£50k
Knowledge transfer partnership grant
£100k
£0
0
£4.6k
£46k
58
41
Oct 25
Pre-seed
£185k
Hire full-stack developer:
Full lifecycle development of web applications
Experience with AWS, GraphQL, MongoDB Atlas
REACT and Figma
Sequoia Arc accelerator (software credits)
£500k
2026
Web-hosted MVP built and launched to startups
Startups chosen based on pre-sale list
Jan 26
Startups purchase MVP with monthly license, where they use the software and provide feedback on features weekly to improve the product
Startups with TRL 3+ are targeted
MVP is developed through feedback, and is beta-tested with Hardware SMEs and corporate teams
Effio copyrights are bought and legalised
Y2: Apr 26
Begin assessing interest for Injection Moulding
COO does outreach and tests to identify market demand for Injection Mounding, and if it is worth pursuing
Letters of intent received from SMEs and corporates to provide validation for Seed funding round
Likely assumption: Injection Moulding has demand
Jul 26
CNC
Injection Moulding
Founder-led sales to drive uptake
Accelerators brings immediate customers
Community events with partners brings trials
Feature testing
Single-feature MVP built and tested with startups
Building expertise and integration into ML model
Angel investment: SFC capital
£200k
Oct 26
Seed
£800k
Hire Analysis Engine Lead:
C++ expertise
CMake, gdb, clang-tidy
OpenCascade experience
Cross-language intergration: Python and C++
Angel investment fund
£200k
Development of local-machine software for Plus license
Geometric analysis refined
Compiled C++ implementation of final feature identification
GDPR and ISO compliant data security
Development of Injection Moulding beta MVP to launch
Geometric analysis capabilities
Adaptation of PyTorch model for feature identification
Prototype surrogate modelling
2027
Legal compliance and certification for customer data security
Feb 27
Launch of local software for CNC Machining
Launch of web-hosted beta for Injection Moulding
Startups migrated to local software
Standard and Plus licenses formally launched
First paying customer secured with at least 3 annual licenses sold
Founder-led sales to increase, with minimum 250 leads contacted per month
Community events continue at the same rate, but partners will go from startups to SMEs
Influencer marketing will commence, starting with LinkedIn influencers having between 3,000 followers. YouTube sponsorship with Scotty Allen will begin to be negotiated
Feedback received for MVP
Developments and new features integrated
Same acquisition channels used for Injection Moulding customers
Letters of intent acquired from SMEs and larger customers
AI-based research grant
£30k
Y3: Apr 27
AI-based research grant
£30k
2028
Launch of local Injection Moulding capabilities on Effio software
Y4: Apr 28
Next steps
2028
2029
2030
Other manufacturing methods
US expansion
Design for Assembly
Carbon tracking
Industry-specific development
Prioritising other manufacturing methods is key to effectively compete with competitors, then after expanding to the US market, adding additional functionality gives Effio a competitive edge.
Risk mitigation
Uncertainty
Early-stage guidance and funding is essential for customer testing and co-founder salaries
£25k
Knowledge transfer partnership grant
Accelerator
Funding single-feature MVP development and additional funding for travel costs
£60k
Seedlegals Startup Award
Competition
Startupbootcamp: DeepTech & Robotics
Monzo Startup Idea of the Year
Primary source of pre-seed funding to fuel recruitment, salaries, and development of MVP
£100k
Grant
Impact
Accelerators
Competitions
Grants
Strategy to improve chances
Partnership with Geometric Modelling and Manufacturing research group at Imperial College London
Single-feature MVP validation shown
Mitigation strategy
Raise £100k from angel investment
Grant application review by other Imperial research groups and UKRI contacts from accelerator
Apply for other funding sources (right)
Station F:
Founders Program
Hult Prize
EIC grant-only funding
Entrepreneur’s First
Santander X
AI First Google
IC Hack
Uncertainty
Covers salaries and software costs for further refinement and R&D for commercial software development
£500k
Sequoia Arc accelerator
Accelerator
Angel investment: SFC Capital
Primary source of cash for seed round, covering salaries and CACs for commercial license launch
£200k
Angel investment
Impact
Accelerators
Angel Investors
Grants
Reasons to improve chances
List of current paying customers andinterested customers
Current traction and scale-up potential
Significant US market size, so scale-potential there too
Mitigation strategy
Apply to other accelerators (right)
Apply to grants (right)
Apply for startup software credits directly from software providers
Investor Partnerships: Digital Technologies
YCombinator
Oxford Innovation Finance
EIC Accelerator
Archangels
Critical Mass Programs to Drive a Sustainable Future
Entrepreneur’s First
Kelvin Capital
Lack of uptake of CNC machining and overwhelming demand for Injection Moulding
Uncertainty
Cannot validate the demand until the CNC machining MVP is launched and further market tests are done
High
Injection moulding is used almost ubiquitously for plastic-based hardware, and also requires complex analysis, and hence may have significantly higher demand
Impact
If this is determined, a significant pivot is required to change product positioning towards Injection Moulding customers
High
Mitigation strategy
Develop versatile back-end analysis algorithms which can be quickly adapted from CNC machining to Injection Moulding
When the change occurs, further development of CNC machining capabilities will be paused to divert resources towards Injection Moulding. Hence, existing customers will not lose functionality while new customers can be quickly onboarded during the local software launch
Larger companies will likely take longer to close a deal, but SMEs may take less time for fewer but similar number of seats per customer
Requires more time than anticipated to close enterprise sale
Uncertainty
Medium
Large companies often have stringent software vetting procedures to ensure compliance and requires multiple sets of approval, which takes an unpredictable amount of time
However, they are the most profitable segment, offering most seats per customer
Impact
Delayed income would affect revenue and profit projections and alternative sources of funding would likely need to be sourced
High
Mitigation strategy
If more than 5 companies are taking time to obtain internal permission to purchase licenses, hold off reaching out to more until at least 3 purchase, and divert resources towards onboarding more startups and other smaller companies with fewer bureaucratic polices
If income is seeming to be delayed, Effio will apply to more competitions and increase the amount requested from grants to supplement any missed revenue
Financial scenarios
Scenario 1: As anticipated, no risk-based events occur
Scenario 2: Purely funding-related risk-based events occur
Scenario 3: All risk-based events occur
Pre-seed round
Pre-seed round
Pre-seed round
All funding sources have returned money as anticipated.
KTP grant has not been successful, and £100,000 has been raised through angel investment 1 month later
KTP grant has not been successful, and £100,000 has been raised through angel investment 1 month later
Seed round
Seed round
Seed round
All funding sources have returned money as anticipated.
Effio has been rejected from the Sequoia Arc cohort. In order to access software credits, Effio applies directly to software providers to work with their startup plans, and 1 month of delay in approvals occurs.
Effio has been rejected from the Sequoia Arc cohort. In order to access software credits, Effio applies directly to software providers to work with their startup plans, and 1 month of delay in approvals occurs.
Market situation
Market situation
Market situation
Injection moulding will be developed alongside CNC machining
Injection moulding will be developed alongside CNC machining
An overwhelming demand for injection moulding relative to CNC machining has paused the further development of CNC machining. Outreach is delayed by 6 months.
CAC situation
CAC situation
Revenue
Net profit
CAC situation
Plus license sales are occurring regulary without delays
Plus license sales are occurring regulary without delays
0
Y3
Y1
Y2
£125k
£250k
£375k
£500k
-£200k
-£100k
0
£100k
£200k
In the third month post-local software launch, Plus license sales for all customers are delayed by 3 months, and so an AI-based UK grant, such as ‘Investor Partnerships: Digital Technologies’ has been applied to, expecting £80k in funding.
Pre-seed round risks
Rationales
Relative risks
Alternative funding sources
Key risk: Lower/ no sum awarded from KTP grant
Seed round risks
Rationales
Relative risks
Alternative funding sources
Key risk: Not accepted into accelerator/ fewer funds and software credits
Market-related risk mitigation
CAC-related risk mitigation
Y3
Y1
Y2