How to find out if a UK company has raised money

Step 1: open the filing history

Search for the company on the Companies House find and update company information service, which is free, and open its filing history. Each entry has a date, a short description and a form type. Companies House lets you narrow the list by category, and you can open any filed document as a PDF.

Step 2: look for form SH01

When a company issues new shares it files an SH01 within one month of the allotment. Each line gives a share class, the number of shares, the nominal value and the amount paid for each share, including any premium. Multiply the number of shares by the amount paid for each line and add the lines to get the cash raised.

The form ends with a statement of capital: the shares in issue after the allotment. Dividing the new shares by that total shows how much of the company the round sold. For allotments since 1 Jan 2024, the median SH01 reached Companies House 12 days after the allotment, and 70% arrived within a month. A round from the last few weeks may therefore not be on the register yet.

Many SH01s record something other than a funding round. Of 106,849 groups of allotments since 1 Jan 2024, 25% were priced rounds, and 51% were option exercises, where employees pay close to the nominal value. A round is an allotment at a price well above the nominal value, paid in cash. What an SH01 does and does not show sets out the other cases.

Step 3: check the confirmation statement

Every company files a confirmation statement at least once a year, form CS01. It includes a statement of capital, and for companies whose shares are not traded it also lists the shareholders when they change, so it confirms the shares in issue and who holds them. It arrives later than the SH01, so use it to cross-check a round, not to find one.

Step 4: look at people with significant control

A company must record anyone who holds more than a quarter of its shares or votes, or who controls it in another way. A new entry, or a holder whose band changes, often follows a round. Look at the PSC notifications (forms such as PSC01, PSC02 and PSC04) in the filing history. A new company as a holder can point to a corporate investor or a new parent, which an SH01 alone will not say.

Step 5: read the accounts and charges

Accounts show share capital, share premium and cash at the year end, which confirms money came in. Private company accounts are due nine months after the year end, and small companies may file abridged accounts with little detail. Registered charges, filed as MR01, show debt secured on the company's assets. Debt is not an equity round, but it explains where cash came from when no new shares were issued.

Where Bradshaw does this for you

Bradshaw groups the filings that belong to one raise, sets aside option exercises and conversions, and works out cash raised and price per share line by line. Bradshaw holds 5,882 priced rounds from 4,721 companies, each of at least £100k, and 100% of them link to the filing page the numbers came from, so every figure can be checked against the form itself.

The confirmation statements, PSC changes and accounts in steps 3 to 5 stay with the company's record as cross-checks. For one company the steps above take minutes. For a sector, a region or a list of investors, the same reading across every filing is the part Bradshaw does for you.

What the register cannot tell you

Some money never appears as an SH01. A US parent can raise money without the UK company issuing shares, and convertible loan notes and advance subscription agreements show only when they convert. Buying existing shares from founders also leaves no allotment. If you need the full picture, combine the filings with press coverage and the company's own announcements.