Start-up financing

Startup firms face restricted access to finance which acts as the main barrier to their growth. This paper aims to address different types of financing options that are available for the startup firms. The paper is divided into two sections. The first section examines the sources of finance for the small “Stat-up” firms during the firm life cycle. There are two types of startups analyzed in this paper. Firstly the startups that are yet to start their business operations or the (pre-startup) stage and secondly the firms that are already in operating phases but are considered to be still in the startup stage of the firm life cycle. Different sources of finance are explained for both types of the startups along with their advantages and disadvantages. Later the next section describes the financing trends across 5 different countries namely China, Germany, Ghana, Pakistan and United Kingdom. The main financing options in these countries are discussed along with the market conditions for these various sources.