Beneath the Headlines of a £1.3m Raise: Runway, Uncertainty and Resilience with Tim Annis, CEO of Fintech, Bluechain
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Introduction
After navigating one of the most challenging fundraising environments in recent years, Investment Ready Programme alumnus Tim Annis, CEO of Bluechain, shares mindset lessons on raising capital, finding product-market fit, and building a fintech business that solves real cash flow challenges for businesses. Based on a recent conversation with Funding London, Tim reflects on resilience, investor expectations, and what founders should focus on before seeking investment.
Q1: For readers who may not be familiar with Bluechain, could you introduce yourself and tell us a bit about the company?
"I'm Tim Annis, Co-Founder and CEO of Bluechain. My Co-Founders and I effectively rescued the business in 2021 and took over in 2022 after spending more than 20 years in the payments industry, including roles at American Express and Tradeshift.”
Bluechain is a B2B payments platform that helps businesses manage the complexities surrounding payments, from billing and collections to reconciliation and cash flow management. One of its key services allows businesses to pay suppliers by credit card, even when those suppliers do not accept card payments directly.
"For most businesses, the payment itself isn't the challenge. It's everything around it. We help take away the pain, time, effort and cost associated with managing cash flow and payments."
Q2: Can you briefly tell us about your latest funding round?
Bluechain recently secured approximately A$2.5 million (around £1.3 million) from existing shareholders after an anticipated investment fell through unexpectedly.
"We had supportive shareholders who believed in the opportunities ahead of us and were willing to provide the runway we needed to deliver. That confidence in the team and the business made all the difference."
The funding will primarily provide the runway to support product development, and enable Bluechain to bring new products to market faster in support of the great partnerships that we already have.
"It gives us the ability to focus on growing the business instead of spending 50 to 75 per cent of our time fundraising."
Q3: How would you describe the fundraising process in three words?
"Draining. Miserable. Elating."
Tim explains that fundraising can feel disconnected from building a business, requiring founders to hear countless "no's" before eventually finding the right investor at the right time (quite hard!).
"But when it happens, the relief is massive. That said, getting the money is just the start. That's when the real work begins."
Q4: At what point did you feel you had achieved genuine product-market fit, and what signals gave you confidence you were building something customers truly needed? Was there an "aha" moment or pivot that changed everything?
For Tim, product-market fit was never about proving demand existed.
“I have worked in and around the payables and receivables industries for my whole career, seeing the challenges that they face. Card to account, as a bill payment service provider where you pay suppliers by credit card even if they don't accept it is a powerful tool for business. I've done variations of that at American Express when I was there.”
“We know there is a market need and demand. When Bluechain previously partnered with American Express, we had over 3,000 businesses sign up to us because of what we do. So, I know it’s valuable for businesses, I know there's a need for it. The challenge is market awareness."
"When you find the right lever, it really pulls things forward. It might sound odd but ensuring that we all recognised that our product was the value, not the incentives we put around it for promotion. We needed to be more confident leading with that across the team."
Q5: What metrics, milestones or proof points were investors most interested in during the fundraising process? Was there one factor that disproportionately contributed to the success of the round?
"The simple answer is net revenue."
Net revenue (not plain revenue) is particularly relevant for digital payment platforms because whilst Bluechain charges a 2.5% fee on payments, this includes Bluechain's intermediary partner fees, which need to be accounted for when investors ask themselves: “how will I see a return?”.
While investors also looked at Bluechain's strategic partnership with Visa, signed contracts and future pipeline, net revenue remained the clearest proof point.
"They want to see net revenue because that's real evidence. They want signed contracts where customers have said, 'yes, we want to work with you', and they want to see you delivering what you said you would deliver."
Q6: Was there a point during the raise when you thought the round might not happen? If so, what challenges were you facing and how did you overcome them?
Absolutely.
After a planned investment unexpectedly fell through due to global affairs, Bluechain was forced to explore alternative options, including a proposal for Tim to acquire the business outright. Tim’s suggestion acted as a catalyst for the shareholders to respond to the funding requirements and re-invest under the existing company structure.
"There were definitely moments when it felt uncertain. Runway is always a challenge in any startup. We have incredible shareholders and a fantastic team who believed in the opportunities we have, and understood we simply needed the runway to execute."
Q7: If you could restart the fundraising process tomorrow, what would you do differently to raise capital more effectively?
"Start today, not tomorrow."
Tim's biggest lesson is that fundraising should begin long before capital is needed. Building investor relationships early gives founders time to establish trust and credibility.
"You've got to build awareness, relationships and rapport before you're asking for money."
He also encourages founders to keep their story simple and focus on answering four questions clearly:
- Who are you?
- What are you building?
- Why does it matter?
- How will investors see a return?
Q8: What’s a piece of fundraising advice that founders hear all the time but you actually disagree with?
Tim is sceptical of advisers who promise fundraising success in exchange for upfront fees.
"We've paid a number of people to help raise money and they've never delivered. The Investment Ready Programme was different."
Instead, he believes founders should focus on building genuine relationships and helping others first.
"Approach conversations with the mindset of helping others, rather than asking what you can get from them. Usually the karma comes back."
Q9: What should first-time founders focus on before raising investment?
Drawing on Bluechain's own experience, Tim's advice is straightforward: build relationships early, simplify your message, and demonstrate consistent execution against the milestones you set. Investors want confidence that founders can deliver on their promises.
Q10: Finally, I hear you have a seriously impressive Lego collection… What was your proudest build (may or may not be related to Bluechain)?
Tim laughs that he has "far too many" Lego sets waiting to be built, including two 5,000-piece Star Destroyers.
He recently completed a Dungeons & Dragons set after a fundraising milestone and admits rewarding himself with Lego has become a tradition.