Investor Updates: Cadence, Content and What UK Law Requires
How often to report at each stage, who should get what, and the statutory and contractual duties that sit behind the monthly email.
Two kinds of reporting
Once you have shareholders, you report to them in two ways. The first is voluntary: the regular update you choose to send. The second is owed: information your investment documents promise and filings the law requires.
Our investor update email template covers the wording of the monthly email. This guide is about the schedule around it: how often to report at each stage, who receives what, and the fixed dates that apply to every UK limited company.
This is general information, not legal or tax advice.
Cadence by stage
Visible, which makes investor reporting software, recommends monthly updates during the pre-seed and seed stages and a move to quarterly once the company reaches Series A or has predictable stability. I follow that pattern.
The exception runs the other way. Visible advises increasing the frequency to monthly or even fortnightly if the company has less than six months of runway or is dealing with a crisis. Investors can only help with a problem they know about, and short runway is one where their introductions and bridge money count.
Pick a fixed date and keep to it. I'd choose a day shortly after the month-end numbers are ready, such as the second Tuesday, so the figures are fresh and the routine is easy to hold.
Who gets what
Visible separates investor updates from board updates. Investor updates go to a broad group of investors and cover high-level progress, key metrics and specific asks. Board updates are more detailed, go to a small group of decision-makers ahead of formal meetings and support strategic decisions and governance.
I'd set up three tiers. Every shareholder gets the regular update. Board members and observers get a fuller pack before each board meeting. The lead investor gets a short call or message in between when something material changes.
Small angels on your cap table deserve the same regular update as the fund. They are often the people who make introductions. The British Business Bank's angel checklist asks founders whether they are ready to report regularly to an angel, and adds that angels can be demanding.
What your investment documents commit you to
Most priced rounds give investors information rights. Sprintlaw lists information rights requiring regular financial and KPI reporting among the terms a lead investor typically negotiates. The detail sits in your shareholders' agreement or subscription agreement.
Read those clauses and write down exactly what you promised: which reports, how often and how soon after each period ends. Typical items are monthly or quarterly management accounts, an annual budget before the year starts and annual accounts within a set time.
Put each deadline in your calendar with a reminder a week ahead. Missing a contractual reporting date is an avoidable way to start a difficult conversation with your lead.
What the law requires
Section 423 of the Companies Act 2006 says every company must send a copy of its annual accounts and reports for each financial year to every member of the company. Your shareholders are your members, so each of them is entitled to the accounts every year.
GOV.UK sets the filing deadlines. A private limited company files annual accounts with Companies House nine months after its financial year ends, and first accounts 21 months after registration. The Company Tax Return is due 12 months after the accounting period ends.
Every company must also file a confirmation statement at least once a year, and must tell Companies House within a month if it issues more shares. Investors can see all of this on the public register, and late filings are visible to anyone who looks you up before the next round.
Tax relief paperwork counts as reporting
If your investors used SEIS or EIS, they are waiting for certificates from you. HMRC only accepts an SEIS compliance statement once the company has carried out its qualifying trade for at least four months or spent at least 70% of the money raised. For EIS the statement can be submitted after four months of the qualifying activity, and HMRC's guidance sets a time limit of two years from that date or from the end of the tax year in which the shares were issued, whichever is later.
Once HMRC is satisfied, it authorises the compliance certificates, SEIS3 or EIS3, that you pass to investors. They need them to claim relief. I'd tell investors in the first update after closing when you expect to file and when certificates should follow.
HMRC's investor guidance says investors must keep their whole investment for at least three years to claim the full reliefs, and HMRC's SEIS guidance sets a compliance period of at least three years for the company. If a planned change might affect the relief, such as a new share class or a change of trade, raise it with your adviser and your investors before you act.
A year of reporting on one page
I'd write the year out as a simple calendar. Monthly: the investor update, on a fixed day. Quarterly: a board meeting, with the pack sent a few days ahead, and management accounts to anyone with a contractual right to them.
Annually: the budget for the coming year, the annual accounts sent to every shareholder and filed at Companies House, the confirmation statement and the Company Tax Return. After each funding round: the Companies House filing for the new shares, updated registers, share certificates and the SEIS or EIS compliance statement when the conditions are met.
Share the calendar with your investors. It shows them the dates you are working to and saves them asking.
Content rules that hold at any cadence
Report the same numbers in the same order every time. I'd always include cash in the bank, monthly burn and months of runway, then the two or three measures that matter most for your model. Keep a number in when it falls.
Give bad news early and with a plan: what happened, why, what you are doing and what it means for runway. Then make one to three specific asks that an investor can act on the same day.
Keep a copy of every update in your data room. A run of dated updates is strong evidence for the next round, because a new investor can read how you set targets and whether you met them.
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Find my investorsSources
- Visible: Investor updates FAQ
- Sprintlaw: Lead investor, what to know before raising a round
- British Business Bank: Angel investment checklist
- Companies Act 2006, section 423
- GOV.UK: Prepare and file annual accounts for a limited company
- GOV.UK: Filing your company's confirmation statement
- GOV.UK: Company changes you must report
- HMRC: Apply to use the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme
- HMRC: Apply for the Enterprise Investment Scheme
- HMRC: Tax relief for investors using venture capital schemes