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Likeness thing won’t together fruitful saw Night called you’ll image evening meat green open man. Multiply hath life own days third yielding grass lights male shed earth morning one.
Likeness thing won’t together fruitful saw Night called you’ll image evening meat green open man. Multiply hath life own days third yielding grass lights male shed earth morning one.
Understanding these trends isn’t just an academic exercise. Each one has real-world implications for how companies should approach liquidity, borrowing, and strategic planning. Here’s what we’re seeing, and how we’re adjusting.
Global working-capital requirements have surged to their highest levels since the financial crisis of 2008. At the heart of this shift is Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), a measure of how long it takes to collect payment after a sale. In Europe, lengthening terms are dragging receivables out further, while in the U.S., a wave of inventory destocking has helped somewhat.
For business owners, the lesson is simple but critical: cash tied up in receivables is cash that can’t be redeployed for growth. Companies with thin margins or aggressive growth targets may find themselves squeezed if customers delay payment.
At Scout Financial, we advise clients to:
In practice, this could mean negotiating stronger payment terms with customers, incentivizing early payment, or exploring financing solutions to bridge the gap. The more disciplined you are today, the less disruptive slow-paying customers will be tomorrow.
If you’re raising money in the venture capital market, you’ve already noticed the headwinds. In Q2, the share of sub-$5 million VC rounds dropped to its lowest level in a decade. Meanwhile, the number of down rounds — financings that value a company below its previous round hit multi-year highs this summer.
This trend is reshaping the startup financing playbook. Investors are becoming far more selective, prioritizing quality over quantity, and requiring more traction for every dollar deployed.
For founders and growth-stage companies, this means:
Scout Financial helps clients calibrate their fundraising strategies to this environment. That might mean adjusting assumptions on runway, rethinking round size, or negotiating smarter convertible terms. Above all, it requires a deliberate, data-driven approach to ensure that raising capital doesn’t come at the cost of long-term strategic control.
For businesses operating in solar, wind, or storage, recent Treasury guidance under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) clarified and, in some cases, accelerated the definitions of “begin construction.”
The takeaway is twofold:
What this means in practice is that timelines for procurement, contracting, and financing must align more closely with these new windows. A delay of even a few months could change whether a project qualifies for credits or preferred treatment.
Each of these four signals has ripple effects. To stay ahead, we’re taking proactive steps across our portfolio of clients:
Markets are noisy, and it’s easy to lose track of what really matters. But the four signals we’re watching all share a common thread: they influence the cost, timing, and availability of capital. Whether you’re managing receivables, planning an SBA-backed expansion, fundraising in a tight VC market, or launching a renewable project, the financial ground under your feet is moving.
That’s where having a partner makes the difference. At Scout Financial, we translate signals into strategy, helping business owners and founders navigate uncertainty with confidence.
If you’re re-thinking your financing plans for the rest of 2025 and beyond, let’s connect.
