Raising Funds for Your Startup (FutureLearn)

Raising Funds for Your Startup (FutureLearn)

Get to grips with the basics of funding a start up and understand the process of successful financing rounds. Almost all startups need external financing, but new entrepreneurs rarely have training in fundraising. On this course you will learn the basics of financing a start up, exploring how important financial backing is for success and how to attract and negotiate with investors.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see FutureLearn's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

This course is also available in French.

What topics will you cover?

  • How to identify and convince potential investors?
  • How to estimate the financing need and the value of the venture?
  • How to negotiate with equity investors?
  • How to prepare and succeed in the post-investment phase?

What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Identify the potential investors in startups and understand their decision process and their selection criteria
  • Design a sound financing plan in order to estimate the financing needs and the value of the startup, which determines the founders ‘dilution when raising equity
  • Reflect on the process and the main issues of the negotiation of agreements between founders and external investors along successive financing rounds
  • Identify the key points to watch in order to succeed the post-investment phase and prepare the exit.
Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Lever des Fonds pour ma Startup (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
Grenoble Ecole de Management

Lever des Fonds pour ma Startup (FutureLearn)

Tout ce que vous devez savoir pour réussir une levée de fonds. Lever des fonds pour une startup est souvent indispensable. Ce n’est pas toujours facile, surtout lorsque c’est la première fois. Il faut maîtriser certains codes, un vocabulaire, savoir ce qu’attendent vos interlocuteurs et comment les convaincre, et préparer la phase post-investissement.

Self Paced
4 Weeks
Enterprise: Everybody’s Business (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of York

Enterprise: Everybody’s Business (FutureLearn)

Gain essential enterprise skills to help turn your idea into a viable startup business that reaches your target customers. On this three-week course, you’ll learn what makes a good startup idea as you discover key techniques to identify and test ideas for your business. You’ll also learn how to assess and measure the potential customer appetite for your idea. With this knowledge, you’ll understand how to get to know your customer and judge the market to ensure your service or product idea is viable.

Self Paced
3 Weeks
Innovation Career Lessons from a Master (Coursera) Coursera
Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Innovation Career Lessons from a Master (Coursera)

This course, which is Part Three in the series of Startup Entrepreneurship specialization, offers Life Lessons from a Master Innovator, with proven achievements. During this course you will listen to conversations and interviews with Mr. David (Dadi) Perlmutter, who until recently was Executive VP of Intel corporate. Dadi will talk about 10 life lessons, based on his 34 years as a rebel innovator and entrepreneur.

Aug 3rd 2026
4 Weeks
Building Fintech Startups in Emerging Markets (Coursera) Coursera
University of Cape Town

Building Fintech Startups in Emerging Markets (Coursera)

Starting a small business in an emerging market can be very rewarding. Many of entrepreneurship opportunities in emerging markets arise out of necessity, or the drive to solve a real need or a social problem. Thus emerging markets often offer huge opportunities for disruptive innovation. Entrepreneurship has contributed to economic growth and been able to respond to social problems, helping some communities prosper.

Aug 3rd 2026
4 Weeks
Online Business: Digital Marketing for Success (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
RMIT University

Online Business: Digital Marketing for Success (FutureLearn)

Understand how digital marketing can help your startup with one of four courses in the Online Business Success program. This free online course will introduce you to the rapidly evolving world of digital marketing and the role it plays in driving awareness and sales for online businesses. We will go on a customer journey together, to discover how people use digital to search, engage, review and buy.

No sessions available
4 Weeks
Starting a Business 6: Funding Your Business (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Leeds

Starting a Business 6: Funding Your Business (FutureLearn)

Raising funds in an important when starting a business; find out which source of funding is most suitable for your business idea. A successful business requires funding to get it started. There are many ways to get your business up and running, from the informal such as personal savings and borrowing, borrowing from friends and family, to the more formal avenues like bank loans, raising equity to crowd-funding. This course will help you consider the finance options available for businesses, and how to fund the expansion of a business.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
Effective Fundraising and Leadership in Arts and Culture (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Leeds

Effective Fundraising and Leadership in Arts and Culture (FutureLearn)

Improve your chances of raising funds for arts and culture by developing your leadership and entrepreneurial skills. Learn how to help arts and cultural organisations thrive. As the global funding landscape is changing rapidly, arts and cultural organisations are becoming increasingly concerned about what actions to take. On this course you will learn about the importance of developing organisational resilience through effective leadership and management, and how to diversify income streams by becoming more entrepreneurial.

Jan 3rd 2022
2 Weeks
Planning: Principled, Proposing, Proofing, and Practicing to a Success Plan (Coursera) Coursera
Michigan State University

Planning: Principled, Proposing, Proofing, and Practicing to a Success Plan (Coursera)

According to Steven Blank a business startup, or any new venture startup is essentially a proto-type. Thus the startup process essentially becomes a learning process to refine that business proto-type into a scalable, replicable finished 'product'. At the end of this course learners will be able to: complete a business model summarizing assumptions about what value they will offer to whom, and how they will make money; systematically test and validate these assumptions within the constraints of their available resources, and; use these validated assumptions to generate financial projections that are based on actual resources and efforts expended.

Aug 3rd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Starting a Business 1: Vision and Opportunity (FutureLearn) FutureLearn
University of Leeds

Starting a Business 1: Vision and Opportunity (FutureLearn)

Interested in starting a business? This course will help you define your vision and discover opportunities to make it happen. A successful business starts with a clear vision and a thorough understanding of the opportunities available to turn that vision into a reality. Whether you have an idea for a future venture or you already have a side-line business whilst studying, this course will help you consider your vision and explore the opportunities available.

Self Paced
2 Weeks
International Organizations Management (Coursera) Coursera
University of Geneva

International Organizations Management (Coursera)

This course provides an introduction to International Organizations and the United Nations, and explores how business and management tools can be applied in these settings to achieve better, more effective results. With a focus on cross-sector partnerships in a changing world, the course offers you insights into the inner workings of international organizations and the challenges they face today.

Aug 10th 2026
5-12 Weeks
New Venture Finance: Startup Funding for Entrepreneurs (Coursera) Coursera
University of Maryland, College Park

New Venture Finance: Startup Funding for Entrepreneurs (Coursera)

This course is for aspiring or active entrepreneurs who wants to understand how to secure funding for their company. This course will demystify key financing concepts to give entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs a guide to secure funding. Examine the many financing options available to get your new venture funded. Learn the basics of finance, valuations, dilution and non-dilutive funding sources. Understand capital structure for new ventures, term sheets and how to negotiate them, and the differences between early-stage versus later-stage financing.

Aug 10th 2026
4 Weeks