How Fuel Ventures turbocharges deal execution with SeedLegals

Fuel Ventures has been a loyal SeedLegals customer for over six years. We finally sat down with Oli Hammond, Partner & VC, to hear about, well, how we make his life easier. Plus he generously shared his top tips for fundraising founders. Get the lowdown below 👇

Meet the customer: Fuel Ventures 🚀

Fuel Ventures is a leading UK-based early-stage investment fund that focuses on SEIS and EIS-qualifying startups.
Their mission? To back the most ambitious founders and help them scale rapidly.
Founded by Mark Pearson who built his own company and scaled it to a £55m exit, Fuel knows how hard building fast-growth companies is, so they use all their operational expertise and experienced network to help companies grow.

They’ve got an epic portfolio of exciting Marketplaces, Software & Platform companies. Check them out ➡️ here.

The challenge: High-volume, efficient deal execution 😪

Fuel Ventures’ investment model requires them to move fast and streamline their investment processes. With dozens of deals closing each year, managing documentation through traditional legal firms was inefficient, costly, and time-consuming.

The solution: How SeedLegals helps Fuel Ventures ✅

1. Faster deal execution

Fuel Ventures leverages SeedLegals to generate key legal documents in minutes, minimising delays and accelerating the time to close deals.

2. Cost-effective, standardised documentation

For early-stage investments, SeedLegals provides ready-to-use, market-standard legal templates that meet Fuel Ventures’ needs and which they can easily customise. This keeps costs low and ensures consistency across deals.

3. Investor-friendly features

Fuel Ventures values our investor-friendly features, allowing them to maintain visibility and control over deal terms while still giving startups autonomy.

4. Excellent Customer Support

The SeedLegals team is always on hand to resolve any issues, whether that’s through direct email, in-platform chat or a video call.

The Results: More time to focus on what matters 🎉

While SeedLegals doesn’t replace the due diligence and regulatory aspects of investment, it has dramatically reduced the legal burden for Fuel Ventures.

Oli’s advice to founders raising investment 🗣️

For startups looking to raise (from Fuel or somewhere else), Oli emphasises two key things:

1. Find the right fit for your funding
   VC funding isn’t for everyone, and not all great businesses fit the venture model. Just because an investor says no doesn’t mean you’re running a bad business. It just means you’re not the right fit for that particular fund.
2. Showcase your team’s strengths
   At the early stage, strong founders matter just as much as (if not more than) the product. We want to know that founders can pivot and adapt. 
3. Speed matters – make it easy for investors
   We like to move fast. If a founder is well-prepared, has their documents ready, and understands the process, it makes it much easier for us to invest.

Talk to an expert

Ready to streamline your investment process? Join the thousands of investors and startups using SeedLegals to close deals faster and smarter.