shelflife®Deal Flow
Checkout
Weekly · to UK food & drink investors · by Shelf Life Ventures

Clear six standards.
Get in front of the investors who read every week.

Deal Flow Checkout is the assessment behind our newsletter. Brands that pass every check go into the editorial queue. Brands that do not get a report that names each gap against a standard they could read before they applied.

Start the applicationRead the six standards

How it works

01

Ten minutes, nothing confidential

ShelfAi asks what you sell, whether you are trading, roughly where revenue sits, what you are raising and on what terms. If you are not raising in the next 90 days, it says so and tells you when to come back.

02

NDA first, then your documents

Press one button for our pre-issued confidentiality agreement, filled in with your company details. Then upload the deck and the latest management accounts. ShelfAi reads them and asks only for what is missing, one figure at a time.

03

Six checks, one report

Each check states the standard, what we found, the evidence and pass or fail. Figures read from your documents are marked as such; figures you typed are marked as stated. We diagnose. We do not suggest fixes.

The six standards

Published so nobody can claim the bar moves. Every report quotes these words back.

01

Use of funds and KPIs

Every pound of the raise is allocated to a line. Every line is tied to a measurable milestone with a date. Together the milestones describe the company at its next raise. The round gives at least fifteen months of runway.

What fails it
  • Money left unallocated, or lines that add up to more than the raise
  • A line with no metric or no date, or "marketing" as a bucket with no acquisition-cost assumption
  • Cash running out before the milestones land
02

Deck

The required slides are present and specific: problem, product, traction with numbers, a bottom-up market size, unit economics, route to market, team, competition, three-year financials with their assumptions, the ask with use of funds, and SEIS or EIS status.

What fails it
  • A required slide missing
  • Top-down market sizing only
  • Traction described in adjectives rather than figures
  • A revenue figure in the deck that does not match the accounts
03

Numbers

Management accounts no older than two months. Revenue reconciles across the deck, the accounts and any sales export. Gross margin is stated after trade spend and wastage and labelled as such. Trading history, growth, burn and cash are all present.

What fails it
  • Sources that disagree by more than ten percent
  • Revenue stated at retail shelf value rather than net
  • A margin implausible for the category with no document behind it
  • Accounts older than two months, or none
04

The ask

The raise covers the use-of-funds lines plus a buffer of at least ten percent. The instrument is stated. Advance assurance is in place when angels are the target. The amount committed and the close date are stated.

What fails it
  • A raise too small to reach the stated milestones
  • No instrument or no close date
  • Angels targeted with no SEIS or EIS advance assurance
05

Valuation

A benchmark comparison, not an opinion. We show the implied revenue multiple, the dilution this round causes, founder ownership afterwards, and the range brands of the same category and size raised at in our dataset. Outside the range needs a written justification.

What fails it
  • Dilution under eight percent or over thirty
  • A multiple outside the dataset range with no justification
  • A price below the last round with no explanation
06

Hygiene

The company is incorporated and active at Companies House, a cap table is supplied, and any debt is disclosed.

What fails it
  • No cap table
  • Debt that the deck does not mention
  • A company that is not active

Three outcomes

  • Shortlisted. Every check passed. You are in the editorial queue and we tell you which issue you run in.
  • Nearly there. One or two named gaps. Close them and reapply. Same bar.
  • Not ready. Several gaps. The report names each one. Come back when they are closed.

What we do not do

  • We do not sell places. Paid placement is offered only to brands already selected, and it is labelled.
  • We do not suggest fixes in the report. Hands-on help on a gap is separate, optional, and never changes the bar.
  • We do not give investment, legal or tax advice, and we do not opine on your valuation. We show it against a dataset.
  • We do not share your information with anyone without a consent you have ticked.

Ready when you are.

Ten minutes for the first pass. You can stop at any point and pick up later.

Start the application