Transparency and Momentum | GBI 15 | June 2019

FOR PROFESSIONAL INVESTMENT SPECIALISTS

T R A N S PA R EN C Y AND MOMENTUM

M AGAZINE

GOVERNMENT BACKED - GREAT BRITISH INVESTMENTS - EIS - SEIS - BR - SITR - VCT

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GrowthInvest: Simplifying tax efficient investments.

Igniting the UK economy.

The tax efficient investment market has changed significantly in recent years.

With tax efficiencies being clearly directed toward growing the UK’s most promising young companies, there has never been a better time to get involved.

products, or perhaps considering them for your clients’ portfolios, contact us at GrowthInvest. We’ll show you how you can consolidate historic investments onto our platform and build a diversified portfolio from a wide range of tax efficient product providers.

However, diversification and transparency has never been more important and with this comes an administrative headache.

Through our intuitive online platform you’ll be able to offer your clients easy access to real portfolio growth, secure in the knowledge that these government-backed schemes offer unique tax efficiencies.

At GrowthInvest we provide advisers a single portal to compare, invest in and manage clients’ tax efficient portfolios, integrating seamlessly with your backoffice solutions. Whether you’re already advising on SEIS, EIS, VCT or BPR

Visit us to learn about the products, the pitfalls and how best to advise on this dynamic and evolving sector.

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CONTENTS CHAPTER • 1 News

A round up of industry news

CHAPTER • 2 Velocity

Neil Martin talks to Chairman Michael Whitfield about how they intend to take the Velocity approach to the wider investment community.

CHAPTER • 3 The Exiteers

Bringing you news of successful exits in the sector

Deepbridge

“Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” famously quipped Mark Twain, and that could be true regarding EIS, according to Andrew Aldridge of Deepbridge Capital.

New Kids on the Block

A regular feature article which showcases the newest offerings from the sector.

Syndicate

Syndicate Room looks at how advisers can use radical diversification to outperform venture capitalists.

Newable

Newable launches major eis investor recruitment drive with educational video series.

Par Equity

Par Equity is an award-winning EIS Fund Manager, investing in innovative, high growth potential technology businesses across the UK.

A transparent new world for EIS

Kuber Ventures is hoping to lead a revolution of transparency in EIS via its platform.

CHAPTER • 4 Open Offers

Our listing of what’s currently available for subscription

Disclaimer

performance is no guarantee of future performance. The value of shares in any investee companies may go down as well as up and investors may not get back the full amount invested. Investors should not consider investing unless they can afford a total loss of their investment. Investments in unquoted shares carry higher risks than investments in quoted shares and involve a degree of risk as well as the opportunity of reward. It may be difficult to sell or realise the investment or obtain reliable information about its value. Any tax reliefs referred to in this publication are those currently applying or expected to apply. However, readers should be aware that tax reliefs and legislation can change. Their applicability and value will depend upon the individual circumstances of a given investor. Whilst the investments set out within may qualify for EIS and other tax advantageous breaks, there is no guarantee that EIS status or other tax efficient status can be maintained throughout the life of the investment. Both investee companies and investors need to comply with the requirements of the EIS legislation in order to maintain EIS Relief and non-compliance may result in the loss or partial claw-back of EIS Relief and potential interest penalties. The material in this yearbook is not to be regarded as an offer or invitation to buy or sell an investment, nor does it solicit any such offer or invitation, nor does it seek to endorse any particular investment product. Any information it contains is given in good faith, but no reliance should be placed upon the same. Applications to invest in any investment product referred to within should be made to the relevant promoter. GBI Magazine neither endorses any particular member, product or company/firm wishing to raise money under the EIS nor does it accept any liability for advice given. GBI Magazine is published by and a trademark of IFA Magazine Publications Ltd, Arcade Chambers, 8 King’s Road, Bristol BS8 4AB, Telephone 01173 258328 @2018 all rights reserved.

GBI Magazine is for professional advisers only. All material has been carefully check for accuracy but no responsibility can be accepted for inaccuracies. Wherever appropriate independent research and where necessary legal advice should be sought before acting on any information contained in this publication. The information and offers contained in this yearbook may not be suitable for all investors.

Readers should be sufficiently aware of the risks and ensure that they are of a suitable category as defined by the Financial Services and Markets Act to review and invest in any of the potential offers or funds. The information given in this publication is not to be construed as advice relating to legal, taxation or investment matters. The information contained in this yearbook does not constitute or form part of any offer to issue or sell, or any solicitation of an offer to subscribe or purchase any investment, nor shall it or the fact of its distribution form the basis of, or be relied on in connection with any contract.

This yearbook is aimed at UK Investors and is not aimed at persons who are residents of any other country, including the United States of America and South Africa where the funds referred to herein are not registered or approved for marketing and/or sale and where the dissemination of information on the funds or services is not permitted. The information provided in the yearbook is not intended for distribution to, or use by, any person or entity in any jurisdiction or country where such distribution, publication or use would be contrary to local law or regulation. The information contained herein may not be reproduced, distributed or published by any recipient for any purpose without the prior written consent of GBI Magazine. No representation, warranty, or undertaking, express or limited, is given as to the accuracy or completeness of the information or opinions contained in this publication. As such, no reliance may be placed for any purpose on the information and opinions set out within it. Past

GBI Magazine is published by IFA Magazine Publications Ltd, Arcade Chambers, 8 Kings Road, Bristol BS8 4AB

M AGAZINE

Telephone: +44 (0) 1179 089686

Commissioning Editor: Michelle McGagh

Editor-in-Chief: Michael Wilson editor@ifamagazine.com

Publishing director: Alex Sullivan alex.sullivan@ifamagazine.com

City Editor: Neil Martin neil.martin@ifamagazine.com

Design: Head of Design - Rachel Bray

Full subscription details and eligibility criteria are available at www.gbinvestments.co.uk ©2017. All rights reserved.

Full subscription details and eligibility criteria are available at www.gbinvestments.co.uk

GBI Magazine is for professional advisers only.

GBI Magazine is a trademark of IFA Magazine Publications Limited. No part of this publication may be reproduced or stored in any printed or electronic retrieval system without prior permission. All material has been carefully checked for accuracy, but no responsibility can be accepted for inaccuracies, independent research and where necessary legal advice should be sought before acting on any information contained in this publication.

What do we mean by ‘government backed’?

In the interests of clarity, any reference made by GB Investments to the point that EIS, VCTs and similar investments are government backed relates to the government’s general approval of these schemes, indicated by their having granted them highly tax advantaged status. The use of this term does not imply that government would in any way act in the capacity as a guarantor or backer of last resort in connection with such schemes.

Moving on up

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ith the political maelstrom continuing almost unabated in the UK and overseas, the team here at GB Investments Magazine remains steadfast in our goal. Our job is to make sure we bring you thought provoking articles and features that not only reassuringly positive and grounded but which help to shape your thinking around the role and importance of EIS and its continuing contribution to the business of UK plc. And that’s not forgetting its relevance to your clients’ financial planning objectives and investment portfolios.

This edition of GBI Magazine is focused on two key elements that reflect many of the latest approaches and commentary on our EIS sector – namely transparency and momentum.

TRANSPARENCY AND MOMENTUM – LEADING THE WAY When our City Editor Neil Martin spoke to the team at Velocity Capital Advisers and asked them what marked them out from the crowd, their Chairman, Michael Whitfield, is clear that transparency is the critical factor. We also talk to Kuber Ventures, about their aim of leading a revolution of transparency in EIS via its platform.

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Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” famously quipped Mark Twain, and that could be true regarding EIS, according to Andrew Aldridge of Deepbridge Capital. Figures released from HMRC at the end of May certainly demonstrate the huge momentum shift which is leading more and more investors to realise the value and attraction of investing in EIS and SEIS. Here at GBI Magazine, we are not surprised to see this but reassured none the less.

Also in the following pages, Syndicate Room looks at how advisers can use radical diversification to outperform venture capitalists.

And last but certainly not least, our popular Open Offers section brought to you in partnership with GrowthInvest provides an excellent central resource for you to consider all of the latest opportunities available as part of your clients’ portfolios. GBI Alex Alex Sullivan Managing Partner CML | GBI Magazine | IFA Magazine

News

RM Funds completes £6m construction facility to IC Capital

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M Funds, the investment manager of the listed specialist in debt solutions for businesses, RM Secured Direct Lending (“RMDL”), has provided a £6m development facility to IC Capital for the construction of a purpose-built student accommodation (“PBSA”) development in Coventry.

The prime 80-bed development, located in Coventry’s city centre and close to the Coventry University campus, is expected to be completed during Q4 2019.

IC Capital is experienced in PBSA having delivered the design and build for two forward-funded accommodation assets on behalf of Empiric Student Property, a leading provider and operator of modern, direct-let, nominated or leased student accommodation located in prime city centre locations in top university towns and cities in the UK. The loan was executed by RM Funds, the Investment Manager of RMDL. Pietro Nicholls, Fund Manager, RM Funds, said: “Over the last seven years RM has developed a scalable credit platform to originate, structure and manage credit assets across a variety of industries and sectors. A key focus for us, as the Investment Manager to RMDL, has been to source and execute loans to well managed businesses and real estate in noncyclical sectors.

“Alternative real estate assets such as student accommodation typically offer a lower correlation and volatility profile to the wider commercial real estate market, in addition to generating attractive and stable income. RM Funds worked with IC Capital to provide a flexible financing solution which met the needs of the sponsor, developer and lead contractor.” GBI

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News

New Head of Corporate Finance at Deepbridge

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ax-efficient investment manager Deepbridge Capital has appointed Samantha Piddington as its new Head of Corporate Finance.

Piddington rejoins Deepbridge after previously being a Partner in the business between 2010 and 2012. A chartered accountant and corporate financier, she previously worked with a number of leading accountancy companies and City firms, including Andersen (now Deloitte) and Hawkpoint Partners (now Canaccord). She will be working with Deepbridge investee companies to further develop and action exit strategies and co-funding opportunities.

The firm also added three further individuals to its investment team.

Katy Levitt joins as Investment Manager, Technology, having previously been a Senior Analyst at Syndicate Room. She will work with Deepbridge’s portfolio of existing and prospective technology-based investee companies.

James Evans joins as Investment Analyst, Life Sciences, and will support the Deepbridge Life Sciences investment team.

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Max Warwick joins as Origination Executive to help identify prospective investee companies.

Ian Warwick, Managing Partner at Deepbridge Capital, said: “The 2018/19 tax year was another record year for Deepbridge, with regards to the funding we provided to innovative early-stage companies. These impressive individuals join our growing team with the aim of ensuring that Deepbridge is able to continue to grow, whilst retaining our high standards of identifying and supporting the very best investee companies.”

Piddington added: “I am delighted to be back at Deepbridge. The company has grown immeasurably since we last worked together but the ethos of providing proactive support and added value to highly-innovative investee companies remains refreshingly unchanged. With over 100 growthfocused companies having now received funding from Deepbridge, I am looking forward to supporting these companies achieve their ultimate goal of providing real returns to our investors.” GBI

Eight Members Club London presents two venues in the heart of the city. The clubs offer members a wonderful space in which to both work and of course relax while taking advantage of our wonderful restaurant and bars, with an amazing event space, pool table, cinema and over 10 beautifully appointed meeting rooms.

To discover more go to www.eightclub.co.uk.

News

Great Point backs Seven Seas Films to support growth and meet demand for new content and hit TV shows

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reat Point, the UK’s leading independent media and investment firm, has today announced it has invested in Seven Seas Films – an independent TV production company whose team has a track record of producing high-quality scripted drama and comedy.

Great Point’s backing will combine financial investment with its media industry expertise and contacts to help Seven Seas take advantage of the buoyant market for high-end scripted series and build a valuable slate of IP and a production hub for returning series and new formats.

The investment is the fourth this year from Great Point’s new EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme) Fund ‘Great Point Ventures’ and sends a welcome sign to other growing media businesses starved of funding from traditional sources. It also underlines the fact that EIS investment in the media sector is thriving following HMRC’s changes in 2018 after the Patient Capital Review.

Speaking from the Cannes Film Festival, Jim Reeve, Great Point’s Co-Founder said: “Content is king in the TV business and the Seven Seas team has an impressive reputation for crafting great stories that capture the attention of audiences and are thus in demand from broadcasters and distributors looking for the next hit show.”

Seven Seas Films was founded in 2016 by Dan Sefton and Simon Lupton with a focus on high-quality scripted drama and comedy. Dan Sefton is a former medical doctor and one of the UK’s leading TV writer’s and

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showrunners with a track record for quality returning hit shows such as “Good Karma Hospital” (ITV), and “Trust Me” (BBC1) and the upcoming “Mallorca Files” (BBC1/ZDF). Simon is a highly respected producer and former BBC and UKTV Commissioning Editor (“The Trip”, BAFTA winning “Harry & Paul”, “Getting On” & “Red Dwarf”).

Commenting on the investment Dan Sefton said: “Simon and I are delighted to be working with Great Point who have a real commitment to exciting and innovative projects. This is a time of great change in the TV and film world and this partnership gives us a great chance to take advantage of these new opportunities and develop fresh and exciting voices and ideas for the screen” The deal was brokered by DoveTale Media, who will also be providing an Executive Producer Consultancy service in respect of Seven Seas Films international business.

The Great Point Ventures EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme) Fund, which is currently raising capital and looking to close its next tranche in July 2019, will continue to invest in a diversified portfolio of growth businesses operating in the UK media and creative industries which contribute £91.8bn to the economy (DMCS 2016) and has grown at a faster rate than the economy as a whole.

Inward investment into the UK’s film and television production industry reached a record high of £1.69 billion in 2017 (BFI 2018). GBI

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Seneca Investment Managers going for gold

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eneca IM, the boutique, Multi-Asset Value Investment specialist, has started building a position in gold across its funds as protection against what it feels is an increasing likelihood of a global economic recession.

The manager has been vocal over the last two years about the need to gradually prepare for a global downturn that it believes will arrive around the beginning of the next decade. It has constructed its portfolios in line with this, adopting a defensive tactical asset allocation strategy that has seen it move increasingly underweight in equities since the third quarter of 2017.

The approach, along with good performance at a holding level, has been a success, with both Seneca IM’s open-ended funds being ranked in the top quartile in their respective mixed assets sectors over five years by Morningstar.

Notably, the fund manager increased assets under management by 70% in 2018 and fund flows so far this calendar year are averaging over £2m

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per week. This asset growth is emblematic of Seneca IM’s ambition to expand its business and presence nationwide.

Peter Elston, Chief Investment Officer, said: “I have believed for the past couple of years that the risk of recession was gradually rising. Being more bearish than consensus has felt rather lonely, but now I am hearing other allocators say the risks are becoming more significant.

“We try to recession-proof our portfolios by anticipating the end of the business cycle, well in advance of it arriving. We’ve been gradually moving further underweight equities for a good while and as markets have become more volatile this has paid off for our investors.

“Our entry into gold is another decision that reflects our existing view, whether the physical gold ETC or the gold miners fund. Indeed, physical gold we see as a good cash alternative for when central banks are debasing currencies in order to boost economies.” GBI

News

Hardman & Co host a ‘Welcome to the EIS Sector’ Round Table “We are passionate about supporting newer entrants to the (S)EIS market. We want to use our connections, networks and partners to educate and help new entrants navigate the waters when they first come to the scene.

“Some of these fund managers will have been investing for many years, but have only recently launched an (S) EIS fund, so they may not know all the relevant parties.

In particular, they may have never raised funds from advisers which is a different ball game to HNWs and direct investor investing.”

F

ollowing a successful event in November 2018, Hardman & Co Tax Enhanced Team invited newer entrants to the EIS market to a Round Table at the RAC, Pall Mall.

Chaired by Martin Fox, MD of Bulletin Marketing, the seminar’s guest speakers included Dan Rodwell from GrowthInvest, Richard Hoskins from Kin Capital, Henwick Park’s Robert Drysdale and GBI Publishing Director Alex Sullivan.

Vilma Pabiliontye, speaking for Hardman & Co’s

In their work in the EIS sector, Hardman have recognised that more can and should be done to support new entrants if this market is to grow. Recently new EIS fund managers or those looking to set up a new fund need to know all the constituent parts necessary for a successful launch, and what different audiences are looking for.

To this end, along with the Round Table seminars, Hardman have announced the launch of their New Entrant Network initiative. This is a collaboration between suppliers that they know and trust, and who are prepared to help new entrants succeed. GBI

Business Development & Marketing division told us:

GB Investment Magazine · June 2019

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News

Calculus Capital invests £2.5m in innovation management software provider Wazoku

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nterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Venture Capital Trust (VCT) specialist Calculus Capital has invested £2.5m in software provider Wazoku, which helps companies drive meaningful change, engagement and innovation through its market-leading idea management platform and suite of support services.

Wazoku’s core product, Idea Spotlight, serves as a global home for ideas and is used by clients including the Ministry of Defence, Waitrose, Aviva and HSBC, enabling them to embed innovation as a core, strategic, everyday capability. Ideas collected using the customisable platform help to identify new opportunities and highlight areas for business improvement, driving significant savings or boosting revenues for organisations.

Challenges are launched inviting staff and other interested groups, like customers or partner networks, to contribute their best ideas in a shared, secure workspace. Using social media-style ‘conversation’ features, other contributors can then rate the ideas, add to them, comment or follow those they like.

Challenge managers rate the contributed ideas against a set of pre-determined criteria to help identify the best contenders for further consideration.

When Waitrose used Idea Spotlight to invite new ideas from 60,000 employees in 350 stores, it resulted in savings of £3.5m. The return on investment (ROI) was 1,500%.

In February, Wazoku announced the Ministry of Defence will be using Idea Spotlight to make it easier for staff to be directly involved in innovation across the Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Air Force, Joint Forces Command and Defence Infrastructure Organisation.

The global idea management market is forecast to grow from around £325m in 2017 to £1.17bn in 2022,

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a compound annual growth rate of 29.2%, according to research company Markets and Markets.

Alexander Crawford of Calculus Capital said: “Innovation starts with an idea to solve a problem or improve a process. These ideas need to be captured, collated, analysed and successfully implemented. Wazoku helps organisations do this very effectively, transforming raw ideas into actionable innovation.

“The company is a leader in a high-growth business area and already has an impressive roster of clients. Our investment will help them move into the next stage of their growth story.”

Simon Hill, Chief Executive of Wazoku, adds: “All organisations need to innovate, solve problems and generate new ideas to meet their objectives. Every one of these organisations have an army of potential innovators at their disposal – not only employees but customers, partners, suppliers and beyond.

“Engaging them in a meaningful way may be challenging, but this crowdsourcing journey poses an exciting opportunity to radically rethink the way organisations collaborate. The right approach will drive tangible results, fuel growth and create real competitive advantage in a sustainable and repeatable way.

“The funding from Calculus will enable us to further expand our reach by investing to strengthen our sales and marketing capability and allow us to continue to deliver a market-leading product through further investment in product development and data science capability.” GBI

EIS - A RISING TIDE Latest HMRC report reveals the extent of greater investor take up of EIS and SEIS

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ew data released from HMRC at the end of May reveals that the take up of investment into EIS and SEIS schemes has been rising steadily but really gathering momentum in recent years. The data reveals statistics about companies raising funds which highlight that:

investment cash in 2017/18. A similar trend has been

· New data reveals £20 billion has been ploughed into companies through Enterprise Investment Schemes (EIS) since they launched in 1993/94

two other developments that have contributed to the

· Over £1.9 billion raised through EIS in 2017/18, with investments of up to £1 million potentially boosted by 30% tax relief

such as Seedrs and Crowdcube makes it easier than

· Seed Enterprise Investment Schemes (SEIS) have helped raise over £1 billion since launching in 2012/13, benefiting 12,900 companies. Investments up to £100,000 qualify for 50% tax relief

for example, over half (58%) of investors claiming

· Huge spike in EIS investments since 2010 coincides with period when pension tax allowances have been eroded – see graph below

erosion of pension tax relief allowances since 2010 is

Tom Selby, senior analyst at AJ Bell, comments:

“In particular the cut in the lifetime allowance from

“The last decade or so has seen a boom in EIS investments, with savers scrabbling to benefit from the 30% tax relief on offer.

£1.8 million to £1,055,000, the reduction in the

“Companies based in London and the South East have perhaps unsurprisingly been the biggest winners, scooping up two-thirds of the available EIS

allowance taper will inevitably have pushed many

reported where companies seek funding through the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme.

“Clearly the increase in tax relief on EIS investments from 20% to 30% in 2011/12 will have had a significant impact on demand in recent years. However, there are burgeoning EIS and SEIS markets.

“At the lower end, the rise of crowdfunding websites ever for those with small funds to dip their toes in the world of direct investment. When it comes to SEIS, tax relief invested £10,000 or less, with over 1 in 10 investing £500 or less.

“At the other end of the spectrum, the dramatic likely to have encouraged many wealthier investors to seek alternative homes for their hard-earned cash.

annual allowance from £255,000 to £40,000, and the introduction of the hideously complex annual to seek out savings alternatives. In this environment the 30% tax relief on offer through EIS and 50% through SEIS are understandably attractive.

“Investors considering going down this route need to make sure they understand the rules and the risks they are taking.

“The incentives on offer through EIS and SEIS exist because the companies are generally start-ups and therefore have a higher chance of failure. As such, it is possible that you will get back less than you put in initially – even when generous tax benefits are taken into account.”

GB Investment Magazine · June 2019

GBI

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VELOCITY ACCELERATES TOWARDS WIDER INVESTMENT COMMUNITY Ask the team at Velocity Capital Advisers about their USP and the answer comes back without hesitation: transparency. Easily said you might say, but the firm has built its reputation on the belief that its underlying investors have the utmost confidence in what it does. GBI’s Neil Martin talks to Chairman Michael Whitfield about how they intend to take the Velocity approach to the wider investment community.

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elocity is different from many firms that you come across, especially as its three founders are not from traditional City careers, but have backgrounds not only in marketing, but also as seasoned entrepreneurs.

Chief Executive Raj Saxena, Bil Bungay and Alex Johnston, started Velocity in 2016 and quickly realised that they could utilise their skills as entrepreneurs with a understanding of the pitfalls associated with the establishment of successful businesses combined with their deep marketing knowledge in assisting start-ups, giving them a level of support that such early stage businesses do not normally have access to.

Take Bungay, who built his successful advertising agency from scratch and sold it to Chiel, a Samsung company. He has also assisted with the market and took a stake as an angle investro in online estate agent Purplebricks, making a decent return on its listing on the London Stock Exchange. With its marketing , he took a stake as an angel investor in a start-up company in which he knew well, online estate agent Purplebricks, and made a decent return on its listing on the London Stock Exchange. The die was cast and strategy of investing and exploiting their marketing knowledge in order to get an equity upside has

stood the team in good stead ever since, becoming the genesis of the Velocity mission.

Over the three years the firm has expanded its team, adopting a multidisciplinary approach, bringing in people with fund management and corporate finance skills. Chairman Michael Whitfield, with his background as a highly successful entrepreneur and former IFA, was brought in as Chairman and Thomas Lindup, a former City corporate finance lawyer and Managing Director of a business taken public in 2016, came in as Chief Operating Officer.

The firm’s core objective is to seek investments that offer investors significant capital appreciation opportunities. It also takes an active, not passive, management approach with investee companies.

Whilst this is a claim all funds tend to make, within Velocity they stand by it, working with their companies with matters ranging from recruitment, access to international markets, helping with R&D claims, marketing, to all aspects of brand positioning/ branding including the naming/re naming of brands.

The ultimate aim being to give these companies what they term an unfair advantage.

Now the team is looking to take the Velocity story to the wider investment community, reaching out to those IFAs, HNWIs and family offices to whom the narrative will appeal.

GB Investment Magazine ¡ June 2019

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Back to the idea of transparency and Michael Whitfield says: “We look to put our investors in a position so that they have line of sight of what our EIS fund will invest in, but remain up to date, should they so wish, with performance and activities of the underlying portfolio companies post investment.

“We achieve the former by lining up investments prior to raising of the funds, so investors can see what the fund is considering investing in. We look to maintain that level of transparency post investment through the use of our best in class portal, which provides both IFAs and their underlying clients with both portfolio, and underlying company, performance and updates as well as providing a platform for receipt of EIS 3 certificates etc.”

What really excites the firm is investing in, innovative and scalable businesses with the potential for high capital appreciation combined with an active management approach.

To illustrate this, the Velocity founders have invested over £1.5 million in the underlying portfolio companies, firmly aligning their interests with those of their investors.

The firm’s EIS portfolio of companies is varied and reflects how the firm rates companies which have something different to offer.

The portfolio includes, Machine Medicine, an artificial-intelligence based Parkinson’s assessment

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technology, which happily sits alongside iynk, a booking platform for the burgeoning tattoo industry.

As does next-up, an online comedy subscription service, and TR8CY, an SME trade financing platform.

Velocity believes it is a time of opportunity for innovative companies with the products and ideas to challenge the way traditional businesses operate.

Velocity looks to exploit this opportunity, appraising potential investments not just for the traditional business qualities of strong management, robust operations and risk management, but also for dynamic attributes that flourish in the digital economy and technology environment, namely: innovation, scalability, agility and speed to market.

Busy period It has been a busy 18 months for the company. Top of the out-tray was their recently closed SEIS Fund 4 and EIS Fund 5 which raised nearly three times as much as in the prior funding round. These funds have invested in 21 companies all prior to the tax year end, enabling all investors looking to take advantage of carry back relief to obtain it. All investments were lined up sometime in advance of the closing of the funds, enabling investors to have sight of what the funds would be investing in.

Another highlight was having previously been reviewed by MICAP, both funds were also reviewed

by MJ Hudson Allenbridge. This highlighted the quality governance and management team,

investment process and pipeline, and portfolio, as best performing factors.

EIS Changes The Velocity team is unconcerned about the Government’s recent changes to EIS. Whitfield says: “We regard the Government’s recent changes to EIS as a positive move. Velocity has always been about investing in early stage innovative companies that are providing a product or service which is genuinely useful to the end user.

“The upshot of this is the creation of jobs in the UK, cementing the UK as a global hub for innovation. The Velocity investment approach sits squarely within the Government’s changes to EIS and as a result did not have to amend its strategy as a result of them.

Investing in high growth businesses is what we have always done and will continue to do.”

So if they could influences to the schemes, what would he suggest?

“We would encourage a raising of the threshold amount capable of being invested in SEIS businesses.

“Our view at Velocity is that an investment should be made on the basis that it should generate a return in and of its own right. Whilst early stage investing does involve a greater degree of risk, this is offset by a number of factors, including:(i) the potential multiple of return on exit; (ii) by investing through a fund you are more insulated against single company failures; (iii) tax relief, both income and capital gains tax; and (iv) loss relief. At Velocity we also have an allocation strategy for our EIS funds which has a bias towards those companies generating significant revenues.

“An EIS investment has to be right for the individual investor and should sit alongside other investments in order to create a balanced portfolio appropriate for the needs and risk appetite of the individual investor.”

The future Velocity now has over three years track record with a portfolio of over 25 companies and has lived up to its name, quickly carving a large space for itself in what is a competitive market. The next three years look to be equally exciting for the firm. GBI

An amount of £150,000, particularly for a technology business, is not a hugely significant sum. From an EIS perspective, we would be interested in the ability of raising tax relief above the current 30%.”

In Whitfield’s opinion, can EIS investments continue to help diversify client portfolios?

GB Investment Magazine · June 2019

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THE EXITEERS! Bringing you news of successful exits in the sector

FUND: ALBION VCTS EXIT: GRAPESHOT DETAILS OF THE FUND The Albion VCTs led the Series A in 2014 and participated in the Series B led by Draper Esprit in 2015 along with subsequent follow on rounds. IQ Capital was the largest institutional shareholder, having led the seed round and participating strongly in every subsequent funding round.

WHAT DOES THE COMPANY DO? Grapeshot is a provider of brand safety and pre-bid contextual intelligence to over 5,000 of the world’s leading marketers. At exit, over 38 billion programmatic ad impressions per month were being enhanced using Grapeshot’s contextual intelligence platform.

WHAT DID THE COMPANY INVEST THE MONEY IN? The company invested in product development, international expansion - with offices opened in Chicago, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto, Singapore, Toronto, recruiting A-star talent, including 130 new hires including a strong corporate executive team including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Marketing Officer, as well as Vice President sales US, Vice President sales Europe,

Vice President product marketing and a head of client services, and building a world class sales and marketing organisation.

HOW MUCH WAS RAISED? The company raised a total of £12 million from Albion VCTs, Cambridge angels, Draper Esprit, and IQ Capital.

HOW WAS THE EXIT ACHIEVED? The exit was achieved via trade sale, with Oracle Corporation acquiring the business.

HOW MUCH WAS RETURNED TO INVESTORS? The total value returned to investors was over 20x the total capital invested of £12 million. The Albion VCTs made a return of 10x total cash invested (including over 14x on the initial amount invested in 2014) and the angel investors made a return of over 20x.

WHAT OTHER BENEFITS HAS THE COMPANY PROVIDED? Employment grew from 34 to 164 from 2014 to March 2018. The contribution to the Treasury will have included employment tax, capital gains tax, and critically both the proceeds and experience will be recycled into other start-ups and scale-ups as VCTs are evergreen funds and angel investors can reinvest. GBI

GB Investment Magazine · June 2019

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EIS ISN’T DEAD, IT’S GONE

BACK TO ITS ROOTS “Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated,” famously quipped Mark Twain, and that could be true regarding EIS, according to Andrew Aldridge of Deepbridge Capital.

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henever there is significant change within a sector or industry, there will always be those who might consider it to be bad news for those active within it, particularly when that change fundamentally shifts the market and causes a significant number of players to adapt.

Also, when that change comes from the Government and where there are a large number of stakeholders whose operations do not match the requirements of those changes, then you might also think that this could signal the end for many of them. That has certainly been a potential view of the EIS sector since the launch of the Patient Capital Review and the subsequent Government-led changes that eventually became legislation last year.

However, while the EIS sector is undoubtedly changing and has moved away from its pre-Patient Capital Review self, our own view is that scepticism around EIS as a financial planning tool in this new environment has not just been “greatly exaggerated” but is very far from the truth.

THE ‘NEW’ EIS WORLD First of all, I think it is important to acknowledge that there is some evidence to suggest that certain organisations are struggling with this ‘new’ EIS world – which ironically is a return to how the scheme was initially envisaged. The sector has recently made headlines in a number of ways which perhaps outline the difficulty some have had in developing an EIS proposition that might have worked a few years ago, but is not going to work now.

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For instance, we’ve seen news around some providers withdrawing funds, others have apparently begun consulting on redundancies, while others have said they were not able to deploy EIS funds in the 2018/19 tax year. And, for those that might not keep a close eye on the sector, this might lead them to the conclusion that the entire EIS market is suffering.

But, again, this is far from the truth and our opinion of these announcements is that they are specific anomalies and are not in any way a reflection of the industry as a whole.

Let’s, however, not be under any illusion that certain providers have needed to change, and it may well be that they have been unable to cope with a new set of rules which introduced the risk to capital condition on their funds, and that effectively removed any remaining ‘capital preservation/asset-backed’ EIS propositions.

For providers which exclusively operated in this part of the EIS market, then they have probably had to make a number of hard decisions. Could they truly move into the type of EIS investment sectors that Deepbridge has always specialised in, such as disruptive technologies and life sciences, for example? It’s one thing for providers to suggest they are acting in the spirit of the EIS rules, it’s another thing altogether to piece together a proposition which abides by the new rules and also offers a compelling investment opportunity. The recent troubles displayed by a number of providers appears to show that, for some, bridging that particular gap has been problematic.

VCTS VS EIS There was also much conjecture around the funding levels under EIS and how perhaps VCTs may replace EIS as an adviser’s tax planning tool of choice. Much of this conjecture was that VCT fundraising in 2018 would surpass that of EIS, but the latest figures reveal that VCT inflows were down 5% for 2018/19, compared to 2017/18, whilst it is also anticipated that EIS fundraising for 2018 will be up on 2017, although not yet likely to reach the peak of 2016.

To our mind, that all of this is an understandable progression for a sector which has been dealing with a number of fundamental rule changes and which has seen a significant number of propositions either having to change their approach or leave the sector.

The Patient Capital Review and the introduction of the risk to capital condition have shaken the market which meant some providers have to change in order to comply with the new rules.

However, consider this against those who do operate in growth-focused EIS investing, particularly in the ‘knowledge-intensive’ sectors such as technology and life sciences. Many of these managers continue to report year-on-year growth – Deepbridge’s own 2018/19 EIS funding raising was over 25% up yearon-year, so it’s not simply a case of saying that all managers are suffering, when clearly those of us that have always focused on growth-focused and highly innovative sectors are not.

A NEW BREED There are many other positives to be aware of which should ensure stakeholders discard any pessimistic thoughts. For instance, we have seen a number of new entrants to the market in this new environment – they clearly see the opportunity that does exist, especially under the new rules, and I suspect as we see more of the ‘old guard’ retreat, we’ll see a new breed taking their place in greater numbers.

Then of course is the advice element in all of this, and how advisers are much more willing to look at EIS investments and how they fit into the tax-efficient investment needs of their clients. For instance, our own adviser ‘community’ has grown rapidly, and continues to do so, plus advisers are increasingly knowledgeable, and thereby more confident, in this sector and on the product options available for those who require tax-efficient opportunities – or indeed for

those happy to take risk in order to target potential high-growth opportunities.

Advisers have not only benefited from increased education in this area but we find that national advisory firms, networks and support service providers have almost all embraced tax-efficient investments as an area of potential opportunities. The further good news is that the EIS market continues to innovate and the opportunities for advisers and investors to access early-stage, high growth-focused companies has never been so varied. After all, without quality investee companies to invest in, we would all be at something of a crossroads.

Let’s, however, not be under any illusion that certain providers have needed to change Overall, we can see that the EIS market has certainly matured in the last couple of years, advisers are embracing it and we expect to continue to see an upward trend in funds raised in the future.

The risk to capital rules were always going to take time to bed in, but now they have and, as a result, EIS funding is once again focused on supporting innovation and job creation in the UK. It is the great unmentionable but also, with the UK scheduled to leave the EU, EIS and SEIS have perhaps never been more important in funding UK plc. To that end, advisers need to work with those providers who are experienced in the growth-focused sectors, have the expertise, the deal flow, the resource and the understanding, and can importantly deploy funds expeditiously in order that clients can claim any potential tax reliefs at the earliest opportunity. Working with such providers will mean the EIS experience is a good one for all, and that rumours of the EIS’s demise continue to be proven to be “greatly exaggerated.” GBI

GB Investment Magazine · June 2019

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THE NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK A regular feature article which showcases the newest offerings from the sector.

INVESTMENT: HAMBRO PERKS GROWTH EIS FUND AIM: HELPING BUSINESS FOUNDER TO BUILD GLOBAL COMPANIES TELL US ABOUT THE FUND Hambro Perks is a venture firm that backs outstanding founders and helps them build global companies.

Founded by successful entrepreneurs and investors with a history of creating, scaling, internationalising and exiting businesses, and backed by a number of family offices and corporates as shareholders, Hambro Perks is an active investor that is able to provide support from the very earliest stages of a company’s journey. The provision of patient capital from our own balance sheet means we are aligned with the long-term goals and interests of the founders that we back, and we are able to support them over time as they build truly exceptional businesses. Many of our investee companies are resident in our office, and use the legal, accounting and digital marketing services that we provide. The alignment of interests created by this structure improves returns and makes us a destination of choice for the best founders as they build fast growth technology-enabled businesses.

The Hambro Perks Growth EIS Fund is structured as a series of individual managed accounts and provides an opportunity for individuals to co-invest with Hambro Perks in the same opportunities with the clear understanding that every investment sits alongside Hambro Perks’ own shareholder capital.

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This enables individuals to benefit from proprietary deal flow while also benefiting from EIS reliefs.

Over 12-18 months we aim to provide our investors with a diversified portfolio of 10-15 investments in companies at various stages of development, from early stage through to Series A, across a number of different sectors. The fund was launched in Q1 2018, and we were proud to receive the Highly Commended Award in the EISA’s Best Newcomer 2018 final.

HOW MUCH IS BEING RAISED? The fund is evergreen and aims to raise £15 million to £20 million per year.

WHAT TYPES OF INVESTMENTS ARE BEING SOUGHT? While we are sector agnostic, we have sector specialties in education technology, InsurTech, FinTech, digital health, digital media, and business services, and these represent around two-thirds of our portfolio. We look to back outstanding founders of businesses that are technology-enabled, capitallight, can disrupt large established markets, and have global potential. We invest initially in companies at seed to Series A stage (we are happy to be the first

institutional investor in a business), and then aim to follow on in further capital raising rounds in those investee companies that meet our expectations for growth.

We look to back outstanding founders of businesses that are technology-enabled, capital-light, can disrupt large established markets, and have global potential WHAT IS THE MINIMUM INVESTMENT? The minimum investment is £25,000. There is no maximum, though EIS reliefs are capped for individuals at £1 million, or £2 million for ‘knowledgeintensive’ companies.

WHAT IS THE TARGETED RETURN? We aim to give investors back at least 2x their initial subscription (excluding tax breaks). An investor that invests £25,000 should expect to receive at least £50,000 (ex-fees and ex-tax reliefs). We aim to return investors’ capital after three-to-five years, though this is not guaranteed and some investments may take longer to realise.

Provide details of the top three fund holdings THREE OF OUR INVESTEE COMPANIES: TEMPO – THE SMARTEST WAY TO HIRE OFFICE STAFF Founded by Ben Chatfield and Ollie Povey, and incubated within Hambro Perks, Tempo is a staffing platform which helps businesses to find and hire temporary and permanent office admin staff. Through the use of innovative interfaces and machine learningdriven matching algorithms, Tempo is able to increase the likelihood of suggesting potential employees who will be a good fit while also helping to cut the costs (both in terms of money and time) of hiring borne by its corporate clients. The company launched in May 2017 and has displayed impressive traction by winning large, well-known companies as clients.

Recent customer wins include Bulb Energy, Monzo, and Uber Eats. Our view is that the incumbents operating in this industry have been slow to embrace technology, and as a result struggle either to match

Tempo’s ability to tailor shortlists of potential recruits or to offer as compelling a service price point while remaining profitable. Tempo is in the process of rolling out its service across the UK, and has just launched operations in Manchester.

TAKUMI – A LEADING INSTAGRAM INFLUENCER PLATFORM Takumi is a global Instagram influencer platform that allows brands to access the creativity, marketing reach and effectiveness of Instagram, and to benefit from amazing content created by advocates for their target audience. Founded by Mats Stigzelius, Gummi Anderson, and Solberg Audunsson and launched in November 2015, Takumi has scaled quickly through offering a managed service model and technology platform that delivers high quality targeted campaign content from carefully vetted influencers.

Takumi has an early mover advantage in this growing market as a pure Instagram specialist, combined with a reputation for focusing on producing the highest quality posts (they work only with the best talent, rejecting over 90% of applications from influencers wishing to join their platform). With more than 40 staff spread across key offices in London, New York and Berlin, Takumi is the number one influencer platform in Europe and sits in the top five globally.

Over the course of 2018, Takumi completed around 600 campaigns for 300 brands, generating 13,000 influencer posts. It has worked with many of the world’s largest companies and brands across different sectors – recent new clients include Stella Artois, P&G, Pantene, and Wholefoods - and as marketing spend moves increasingly towards Instagram the potential for continued growth is large.

HEYDOC – THE FULLY INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS Founded by Christoph Lippuner and Mikael Landau, Heydoc has built a fully integrated subscription-based system for medical practitioners that helps them manage appointments, electronic medical records, patient data, prescriptions, test results, and invoicing.

It structures, and in time will learn from, medical data in a way that benefits medical practitioners, patients and clinical research. This is a multi-billion dollar global market that is currently poorly served, and Heydoc’s superior product, which focuses on doctors’ specific needs, is winning share from the largest incumbents, a trend we expect to continue. Lippuner and Landau are experienced entrepreneurs having previously founded and sold a business to JustEat and we expect them to build a very successful company. GBI

GB Investment Magazine · June 2019

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BEATING THE Syndicate Room looks at how advisers can use radical diversification to outperform venture capitalists.

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ontrary to conventional wisdom, Syndicate Room’s latest study reveals that investing at random in at least 30 start-ups could help you beat the returns of not only the infamous TV Dragons, but also most professional venture capitalists.

The study tracked every UK start-up that raised seed or venture equity finance in 2011, for which reliable data was available: that’s 506 in total. This includes now-household names like TransferWise, The Culture Trip, and Nutmeg.

Using the same dataset, we looked at the venture capitalists and Dragons that invested in this cohort to determine their 2011 start-up portfolios. Comparing the performance of these portfolios with that of the cohort as a whole, we discovered that radical diversification can help you outperform venture capitalists for one very important reason: by picking and choosing just a few businesses to back, these big investors are very likely to exclude the companies that go on to perform best.

So, if a large and broad cohort of start-ups out performs the Dragons and most venture capitalists, this begs the question…

IS IT TIME FOR A START-UP INDEX FUND? Overall, the cohort of 506 start-ups grew in value at an average rate of 28% per year between 2011 and 2018 (compound annual growth rate, or CAGR). Over the seven years, it saw: • 83 exits • 93 deaths • 86 companies enter venture stage • 74 companies enter growth stage • 170 companies become zombies

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Had you invested £10,000 in the full cohort back in 2011, by the start of this year your portfolio would have been worth £72,800. Given that the majority of the 2011 raises will have been eligible for EIS tax relief, the gain for qualifying investors would have been even greater.

By comparison, publicly reported investments made by the Dragons in 2011 and 2012 grew at an average rate of 16% up to 2019. Our data also followed the 2011 portfolios of 479 venture capitalists, which together grew at 19% CAGR. Indeed, based on investments made in 2011, only 38% of UK venture capitalists were able to outperform the start-up cohort as a whole. This means that most venture capitalists would be better off picking their investments at random, rather than trying to pick the ones they think will succeed.

RADICAL DIVERSIFICATION After carrying out repeat simulations of various investment strategies (100,000 simulations per strategy), we found that one of the most successful was to spread your risk among as many companies as possible. We dubbed the strategy ‘radical diversification’.

We simulated investing into companies that raised between £500,000 and £5 million in 2011 to create portfolios of varying sizes. The simulations assumed that a fixed amount was invested into a single round of each company, with no follow-on investments being made.

On average, a portfolio of 30 investments returned 3.7x of the initial investment in total over a seven-year period; when diversifying even more dramatically into 80 companies, this figure returned 4.7x.

Radical diversification continues to hold true when applied to smaller start-up rounds (£150,000–£2

million), though the rate of return slows once the portfolio reaches around 30 investments (2.3x return; here a portfolio of 80 investments averages 2.5x return).

This strategy allows investors a much higher chance of backing massive success stories like Funding Circle, which more than pay for any failures in the portfolio (according to Companies House, Funding Circle’s 2011 investors saw a staggering 231x return on investment from its 2018 IPO).

ARE YOUR BIASES DAMAGING YOUR PORTFOLIO? But it isn’t only the size of your portfolio that impacts on potential returns – it’s diversification.

If your investment strategy employs biases that lead to certain opportunities being excluded from your portfolio, for example based on geography or sector, you may be shooting yourself – and your returns – in the foot.

DIVERSIFYING WELL The numbers seem pretty conclusive – diversify into more start-ups and achieve a higher likelihood of returns. The problem? Many rounds will have a minimum amount you must invest, so unless you have a significant amount of wealth at your disposal, the number of businesses you can feasibly back is limited.

And that’s before you remember that many businesses will approach angel groups and venture capitalists first, meaning they’re the ones who get first dibs – and the lion’s share – of the equity.

With that in mind, here are two things you can do to bolster your odds of building a strong start-up portfolio.

1. GAIN ACCESS TO ANGEL NETWORKS We used the 2011 portfolios of 479 venture capitalists to work out their average compound annual growth rate (CAGR): 19%. While this figure falls short of the 28% CAGR demonstrated by the full cohort, it is worth noting that the spread of venture capitalists performance is very wide. These venture capitalists had the best-performing 2011 portfolios:

What’s more, the combined 2011 portfolios of business angels came to an average 35% CAGR. To combat your own network bias, which is also likely to discriminate by geography and sector, get access to the networks of these venture capitalists and angels, and diversify.

Diversify into more start-ups and achieve a higher likelihood of returns.

2. INVEST IN 30-PLUS START-UPS As described above, the data suggests that for £150,000–£2 million rounds, a spread of 30 investments will give you the biggest jump in returns.

For bigger rounds (£500,000–£5 million), the upward trend maintains velocity past 30 companies, so the more businesses you invest in, the greater your likelihood of higher returns.

Both of the above points support SyndicateRoom’s ‘investor-led’ investment strategy and, to a greater degree, that of Fund Twenty8, which seeks to back no fewer than 28 businesses per fund (the last two funds achieved portfolios of 32 companies).

THE THREE GOLDEN RULES While the 2011 cohort has performed better than the oft-cited statistic that nine out of ten start-ups fail by year five, you must remember that the nature of earlystage companies makes this asset class super highrisk. Diversification isn’t a new antidote, but it is one hitherto untested in this space – particularly to the degree suggested in this study.

TO ACHIEVE RADICAL DIVERSIFICATION, START WITH THREE OBJECTIVES: • Invest in 30-plus start-ups • Avoid adverse selection of any sort • Combat network bias by getting into top venture

1. Oxford Early Investments: 90% CAGR

capitalists networks

GBI

2. Cambridge Capital Group: 83% CAGR 3. Nexus Investments: 81% CAGR 4. White Rose Technology Seedcorn Fund: 78% CAGR 5. Fusion IP: 70% CAGR

GB Investment Magazine · June 2019

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ADVERTORIAL

NEWABLE LAUNCHES MAJOR EIS INVESTOR RECRUITMENT DRIVE WITH EDUCATIONAL VIDEO SERIES

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fficial figures released 29 May on the Government-led Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and sister Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) reveal a small rise in investment in British start-ups in the tax year ending March 2018. On the surface, the figures look encouraging for early stage British companies as the investment levels are at near record levels.

However, since April 2018, new tighter rules announced by the Chancellor in the 2017 Autumn statement, have come into force. This restricts EIS investment to ‘knowledge intensive companies’ where the investor’s capital is at genuine risk.

Newable supported this measure as it seemed appropriate to focus the benefit of the tax incentives on helping to support Britain’s emerging businesses powering the 4th Industrial revolution.

Industry analysts such as Beauhurst and MICAP suggest that the volume of EIS supported early-stage investment declined significantly in the year to March 2019. This may well have been exacerbated by the continuing uncertainty which is creating an adverse environment for early stage investing. (We await confirmation from the HMRC this time next year when they publish the next bulletin.)

Newable Private Investing is bucking this trend.

Beauhurst named NPI as the UK’s most active early stage investment network, facilitating 51 deals raising a total of £36m over the last 24 months.

This has helped to kick start the growth of exciting British companies including Echion – a Cambridge University-born firm which is developing a portfolio of advanced sustainable battery materials, and Atelerix – a Newcastle based developer of a transformative technology for the storage and transportation of cells at room temperature.

Earlier this year, Newable successfully launched an EIS Evergreen Tech Fund. This offers investors the opportunity to mitigate the risk of early stage investments across a broad portfolio of companies.

Chris Manson said:” We want to reflect our industry leading position with this video series. It is deliberately not hard sell. Rather, it is designed to bust some myths and break some taboos. The video series demonstrates that whilst it is not without risks early stage investing can be rewarding on many levels.”

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To support the continued growth for EIS Investments, Newable has launched a series of videos showcasing the “Life’s Lessons” from UK entrepreneurs and investors, providing a series of tips and hints for EIS investing.

In one video in our series, Spot the Signs, Investor David Ford observed “I would absolutely prefer to back a high quality team with an okay idea than a great idea but a poor quality team, because a poor quality team is not going to execute on that idea.” Similarly, Investor Cynthia Nadal mirrors this attitude, stating “This is not an easy journey, so you need people who not only get along, but can work together and work together under pressure”. In another episode, “Don’t believe in Dragons”, entrepreneur Joshua Davidson from Night Zookeeper debunks the Dragons Den myth of angel investing, commenting “This is not an easy journey, so you need people who not only get along, but can work together and work together under pressure” Chris Manson, Newable’s CEO said: “From an investor’s point of view, putting a portion of their capital into EISaccredited companies can be an exciting and highly rewarding journey, with returns that have the potential to far outweigh traditional quoted stocks due to unbridled early growth potential if the company takes off. You only have to look at how the fintech market has boomed over the past few years to get a sense of what these companies are capable of.”

“It goes without saying that EIS investments should complement a balanced, diverse portfolio rather than form the bulk of it. However, should the company fail, there are loss relief measures including further offsets against capital gains tax or income tax, making it an attractive choice.”

The rapidly evolution and convergence of technology and science has ushered in the 4th Industrial Revolution creating whole new industries such as AI, Med Tech and Machine Learning. Investment in British tech led start-ups is vital to the growth of the innovation economy and must be sustained.

To find out more, please visit www.newable.co.uk/eis-investors/

Newable Private Investing Invest in Our Evergreen Fund, an EIS Fund supporting companies ready to scale up.

Our Scale Up 3 Fund is currently open for investors, providing opportunities for investors to make EIS investments to ambitious knowledge-intensive companies ready to scale. In the last 24 months, we have facilitated 51 deals, raising ÂŁ36m.

We look forward to welcoming you to our network of 500+ angel investors.

newable.co.uk/eis-investors Your capital is at risk if you invest in early stage companies

PAR EQUITY Phone: 0131 556 0044 Email: info@parequity.com Website: www.parequity.com

COMPANY OVERVIEW Paul Munn, Managing Partner

Paul Atkinson, Partner

Par Equity is an award-winning EIS Fund Manager, investing in innovative, high growth potential technology businesses across the UK. We harness the expertise and contacts of our professional investor group, the Par Syndicate and wider investor network to create a distinctive, operationally focused investment model that benefits both investors and entrepreneurs. This approach marks Par Equity as a value-added investor, which is reflected in a strong capacity to originate interesting investment opportunities.

Par Equity has been investing in growth companies for ten years. It has deployed ÂŁ128 million into 53 investee companies, from which there have been 14 realisations (good and bad), yielding a 3.2x money multiple in aggregate (representing a 26% blended IRR) before tax advantages.

KEY PERSONNEL Paul Munn, Managing Partner

Andrew Castell, Partner

Paul is a Chartered Management Accountant and has experience of corporate management, turnarounds, business development and active share owner engagement. He has an LLB degree from the University of Glasgow.

Paul Atkinson, Partner Paul is a serial entrepreneur and serial angel investor.

He has a substantial track record of building value for companies in the technology and services sector and taking them to a successful exit. He has a BSc in Physics from Manchester University.

Andrew Castell, Partner

Robert Higginson, Partner

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Andrew is a Chartered Accountant. His career prior to Par Equity took in management consultancy, corporate finance and restructuring as well as serving at PLC board level. He has an MA in Jurisprudence from Oxford University.

Enhanced Profiles

Robert Higginson, Partner

expertise in our angel syndicate, where many of the members are industry insiders with a track record of success in the sub-sectors we invest in. Last year we saw more than 400 new investment opportunities but only eight made it through to completion.

Robert spent the early part of his career as a software engineer for a start-up based in the U.S before moving into broader technology, product management and strategy roles within the financial services sector.

•

Hands-on management: Young companies need support if they are to thrive and survive.

Par Equity’s model leverages its wider investor network to involve the right people at the right time, ranging from advice and mentorship through to hands-on engagement.

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A seat at the table: Our EIS Fund only invests up to twice in any given investee company, but there are no limits on the Par Syndicate. This gives us the potentially to retain influence over portfolio companies over more rounds of investment as they grow.

THE PAR SYNDICATE Par Equity’s professional investor network numbers over 200 experienced business people whose collective experience, insights and energy is applied to supporting the companies they invest in through their membership of the Par Syndicate.

As well as helping build value post-investment, they help Par Equity find and assess potential investee companies.

INVESTMENT STRATEGY Par Equity has built an investor network which provides unrivalled access to the right people at the right time, who enhance our deal flow, improve our due diligence, fine tune business models and guide entrepreneurs through to exit. As a recognised added-value investor, we enjoy a strong flow of investment opportunities.

At our core, we are investors in innovation. We look for disruptive and innovative companies, especially in communications, internet, media and electronics, clean and medical technologies.

We tend to avoid geographies with high costs (for people and premises, for example) and abundant capital - we rarely look at companies based in London, South East England, Oxford or Cambridge, but prefer the North of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

KEY SERVICES AND FUNDS The Par Syndicate EIS Fund is an evergreen fund focusing on growth company opportunities. It coinvests alongside experienced angel investors.

We aim to deploy subscriptions within 12 months across a target portfolio of seven – eight companies.

Retail clients are able to invest in the fund.

Some EIS fund investors may also be able to join the Par Syndicate. This can appeal to investors who like to follow their money over several rounds, or invest in pre-existing portfolio companies. GBI

Our typical entry point is where companies are beginning to generate commercial revenues. We may invest earlier as long as there is a minimum viable product and clear line of sight to revenue. We aim to keep close to investee companies through to the point where they are profitable or have developed strategic value, when a profitable exit becomes a realistic possibility.

Differentiated Offering •

Warm introductions: Par Equity’s proprietary deal flow is enhanced by the breadth of our network and sharpened by the depth of

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A TRANSPARENT NEW WORLD FOR EIS Kuber Ventures is hoping to lead a revolution of transparency in EIS via its platform

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uber Ventures is trying to eradicate the legacy of secrecy surrounding venture capital and make EIS more transparent and accessible.

Dermot Campbell, Chief Executive of Kuber Ventures, wants advisers to understand the world of EIS, SEIS and Business Relief (BR). Since 2013, he has been trying to educate and provide access to alternative investments through the Kuber platform, dedicate to these funds - it currently offers advisers the choice of 25 funds.

It hasn’t been an easy job.

Campbell says EIS gained a bad reputation, being thrown in the same category as film investments that HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) was not keen on.

He said once HMRC clamped down on ‘dodgy film’ investments, tax advisers funnelled money into EIS. Naturally, Campbell says some people will think EIS is ‘playing into that [tax avoidance] world’.

And some of the funds available were not doing the industry’s reputation any favours.

‘Some of these products had massively high margins and big sales forces selling them,’ says Campbell.

‘That bit of the industry did not want platforms [like Kuber].’

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He says the transparency that a platform brings would have shone a spotlight on the funds charging too much and delivering too little, but times have changed and now there is a push towards greater transparency and there ‘are some great funds appearing’.

‘We are trying to drive good behaviour and transparency but some [fund providers] cannot help themselves,’ he says.

‘It came from their heritage...operating in a secretive world where they are not used to sharing their toys and handling a lot of intellectual property that they do not want to be looked at. They have this natural thing where they want to be secretive because they are dealing with cutting-edge, disruptive information, and they do have those processes in place that protect that intellectual property.’

Why Campbell understands that funds need to be somewhat secretive about the companies they invest in and the specifics of their operations, he believes there is one area that should not be secret: charges.

Campbell is clear about two things: firstly, EIS providers should make their charges clear, and secondly, it is not Kuber’s place to judge what fees should be.

‘Our job is not to say what is fair and what is reasonable with charges,’ he says, adding that pricing both too high and too low brings about their own issues.

‘If you’re charging just 2%, then you’ve probably got your pricing wrong and you need to have a look at the [provider’s] balance sheet. And if you’re charging 20% then there could be other issues - but it’s not our job to say that fund charges of 20% are right or wrong, just to say that this is what it is.’

The fund management industry has already been pushed towards clearer charing through the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) asset management review that raised concerns that asset managers were calculating fund costs inconsistently and even inaccurately. In a move towards ‘value for money’ investing, the FCA has told fund managers to provide clarity on costs and fees and make it easier to compare fund charges.

This change hasn’t made it into the alternative investment world, and Campbell says there are some parts of the industry that feel the regulator’s clear call for clarity ‘does not really apply’ to EIS and similar investments.

However, ‘there is a growing number of funds’ that recognise the importance but there ‘is a long way to go’.

Part of the problem around EIS charges is that it is not as straightforward as a standard unit trust, as both investors and the investee company can pay fees.

Some funds charge investors a set annual management charge and performance fee, while others will charge the investee company, and just to add more confusion, sometimes it is a mixture of both.

‘Transparency’ is one of the things we are pushing for and it’s not very easy,’ says Campbell.

He adds that charging the investee company is good for investors are they receive tax relief on the charges but often the investor is charged because ‘you cannot charge the company because there was lots of competition for that investment and the company did not need to pay’.

Campbell says it is ‘not good’ if a fund starts to make investment calls based on charges.

‘If you are charging the investors because [the companies invested in] are long-standing companies that are probably going to exit quickly and lower risk, versus a tiny, early-stage companies the is prerevenue and more of a risk,’ he says.

‘If [a fund] is only going to invest in companies where the fee is paid by the investee company, then you are putting yourself in a different [risk] bucket.’

When a fund charges both the investor and investee company, it is due to the investee company not being profitable enough to afford the charges and ‘the investor has to make up the difference’.

‘Investors need funds to be properly reimbursed so they can continue to invest and exist,’ he says.

Charges have been a hurdle for Kuber and Campbell doesn’t deny it is a tough job dragging the EIS and SEIS market into the 21st century. One of the other barriers he is facing is that, despite the ubiquity of platform use in adviser businesses, the EIS world is ‘90% manual’, says Campbell.

He says advisers are still having to write out suitability letters and apply for EIS investments through the post.

‘The last challenge for us is the industry is completely manual,’ says Campbell.

However, it is a challenge that can be overcome and although Kuber is currently home to £60 million of assets invested via 25 funds, Campbell hopes to ‘get to a place where we are raising £100 million a year’.

He is pursuing a ‘tactical growth strategy’ of driving transparency that will encourage more people to invest, expanding Kuber’s potential client base.

‘Platforms are playing an important role in democratising EIS,’ he says. ‘We are bring those investments to the masses.’ GBI

GB Investment Magazine · June 2019

31

INVESTING IN TECHNOLOGY

– IT NEEDN’T BE ROCKET SCIENCE For 36 years now, founder Lucius Cary and the team at Oxford Technology Management have been helping generations of original thinkers to push the boundaries of science and technology.

The first thing that rather sets Oxford Technology Management apart is that they specialise in making small initial investments in high risk / high reward science start-ups.

It’s little surprise that the majority of investors shy away from this highly fertile sector - largely because they simply don’t understand the science; few people invest in what they don’t understand, whatever the potential.

By the same token, some of the most impressive scientific brains in the UK don’t have the first clue about to how to launch and run a business; and indeed, why should they?

The Oxford Technology approach is to guide investors and investees alike through these murky waters of mutual ignorance.

F

or 36 years now, founder Lucius Cary and the team at Oxford Technology Management have been helping generations of original thinkers to push the boundaries of science and technology. Their unusual blend of commercial know-how combined with a sympathetic understanding of scientific processes has delivered more than 150 start-ups since 1983.

32

GB Investment Magazine · June 2019

This is why most of their investments are in enterprises based within an hour’s drive of their Oxford HQ. They can and do get involved to help, and in the vast majority of cases their assistance is appreciated and acted upon (although some founders can be less than receptive).

Everybody at Oxford Technology has a science background, and actively enjoys and appreciates the technical side of the investments. But their commercial credentials are solid too, as even the most cursory inspection of their track record since the early 80s will confirm.

OT(S)EIS is the company’s 12th fund in that time, which means that they have unrivalled experience in this highly specialised sector. 6 years in, the results so far are very encouraging. As at 5 April 2019, the fund had invested in 39 science start-ups. Three have failed and the combined losses on these, after the generous SEIS/EIS tax relief were £45,900. The gains on the winners, valued at the latest share price paid by incoming investors were £9.15m. But, apart from one exit (at 14x the after tax share price) all the gains are on paper only so far.

The SEIS scheme is ideally suited to operations like Oxford Technology’s. It gives investors 50% back at the outset and the loss reliefs further reduce the net cost of any failures. All gains on the winners are tax free.

The company’s strategy is not to maximise the tax reliefs, but to maximise the eventual return to investors; therefore, investments are over three years.

An initial SEIS investment is made in year 1; capacity is kept in place to be able to invest the same sum again in year 2 as an EIS investment, and then the same again in year 3. Having this ability to follow up is crucial, and its absence will usually result in bad consequences for early investors.

The specialist, rarefied nature of the science / technology sector means Oxford Technology often find raising capital themselves quite a challenge; last year they raised just over £1m.

Over the same period, more than £700m flowed into VCTs. This meant that to the company’s chagrin, there were many good investment opportunities which they were unable to take up.

One obstacle is that with these three year investments, it takes investors 4 years to get their tax relief.

However, those investors who opt for a VCT (which also has 3 years to invest the money) get their tax relief at the outset.

It would seem to be an anomaly that the Treasury and HMRC favour VCTs in this way, but the company’s attitude is to take it on the chin and just get on with it.

When investees need more capital than can be prudently provided from the fund, Oxford Technology are often able to raise this by contacting their investors and giving them the opportunity to make further direct EIS investments. This benefits the investee companies who can raise money quickly this way which then means that they don’t get sidetracked by a long fundraising process. Founders who spend 9 months raising capital aren’t focusing on developing their science and their business – a potentially fatal flaw.

The company also has a base in Shanghai which is run by Chenjie Ma who graduated in engineering at Oxford University and then worked for Oxford Technology in the UK. Her job is to help investees get their technology adopted in China – one of the largest markets in the world. Having a Chinese speaker on the ground who is also an engineer has proved to be a great boon. One of the investee enterprises, Sime, had developed a method for detecting the lack of surfactant in the lungs of very premature babies (which can cause brain damage and even death).

Sime’s innovation had its first use in the world in China at the end of 2018, largely as a result of the onsite help that Oxford Technology was able to provide.

Aside from the potential financial rewards, at a time when ethical investment is a hot topic, Oxford Technology Management’s staff and investors also gain satisfaction from being involved in start-ups which ease pain, improve mobility, reduce infant mortality or just generally make the world a better, healthier place.

To find out more, contact lucius@oxfordtechnology. com or visit the Oxford Technology Management website. GBI

GB Investment Magazine · June 2019

33

invest in the growth potential of British life science & AI the o2h therapeutics EIS fund The first S/EIS tax saving fund in the UK solely focused on early stage biotech therapeutics and related AI opportunities. Large pharma companies now rely on the small innovative biotechs for new ideas in disease areas, such as cancer, genomics, anti-ageing and neurosciences, which has led to higher potential exit valuations.

To find out more or register: invest@o2h.com or text INVEST to 88802 www.o2h.com/ventures

Quarterly closings Next round closes 31st July 2019

Scan for more info

/company/o2h-ventures-limited

@o2hventures

o2h Ventures Limited is regulated and authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 812245).

M AGAZINE

GBI OPEN OFFERS The power to invest through GrowthInvest

SEIS Open

Close

Nov 2017

Evergreen

Target Raise: £3m per annum Minimum investment: £10,000

Deepbridge Innovation SEIS The Deepbridge Innovation SEIS represents an opportunity for private investors to participate in a selected portfolio of innovative seed stage innovation companies, taking advantage of the tax benefits available under the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme.

Providing seed investment to emerging technology-focused companies, the Deepbridge Innovation SEIS seeks to fund selected investee companies that possess an exciting new innovative approach to meet the existing and emerging requirements and demands of both corporate and consumer markets.

The Deepbridge Investment Team has a proven track record of working with emerging companies to create value for shareholders through a hands-on investment methodology.

The Deepbridge Innovation SEIS is a manager fee-free SEIS opportunity at the point of investment for subscriptions received by a financial adviser. Upfront and ongoing manager fees are paid by the Investee Companies, potentially allowing investors to enjoy up to 100% of SEIS tax benefits. Please see costs and fees section in the Information Memorandum for full details.

T. 01244 746000 E. Enquiries@deepbridgecapital.com www.deepbridgecapital.com

The availability of SEIS tax reliefs depends on individual circumstances, may be subject to change in future and depend on underlying companies invested in maintaining their qualifying status. Investment in unquoted companies carries high risks and investors could lose the total value of their investment. Investments in SEIS can be difficult to realise. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

This financial promotion, directed at investment professionals, has been approved by Enterprise Investment Partners LLP (“EIP”).

Deepbridge Advisers Limited (FRN: 609786) is an Appointed Representative of EIP, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 604439).

EIS Open

January 2013

Close

Evergreen

Deepbridge - Technology Growth EIS

Amount to be Raised: Uncapped

The Deepbridge Technology Growth EIS represents an opportunity for private investors to participate in a selected portfolio of innovative growth companies, taking advantage of the tax benefits available under the Enterprise Investment

Minimum Investment: £10,000

Scheme. The Deepbridge EIS focusses principally on three sectors: • Energy and resource innovation; • Medical technologies; • Business enterprise and other high growth IT-based technologies.

T. 01244 746000 E. Enquiries@deepbridgecapital.com www.deepbridgecapital.com

The Deepbridge Investment Team has a proven track record of working with emerging companies to create value for shareholders through a hands-on investment methodology. The Deepbridge Technology Growth EIS is a manager fee-free EIS opportunity at the point of investment for subscriptions received by a financial adviser. Upfront and ongoing manager fees are paid by the Investee Companies, potentially allowing investors to enjoy up to 100% of EIS tax benefits. Please see costs and fees section in the Information Memorandum for full details.

The availability of EIS tax reliefs depends on individual circumstances, may be subject to change in future and depend on underlying companies invested in maintaining their qualifying status. Investment in unquoted companies carries high risks and investors could lose the total value of their investment. Investments in EIS can be difficult to realise. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

This financial promotion, directed at investment professionals, has been approved by Enterprise Investment Partners LLP (“EIP”).

Deepbridge Advisers Limited (FRN: 609786) is an Appointed Representative of EIP, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 604439).

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GB Investment Magazine Open Offers GB36 Investment Magazine · October· 2018

Open Offers

SEIS Open

Close

January 2016

Evergreen

Target Raise: £3m per annum Minimum Investment: £10,000

The Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS The Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS represents an opportunity for private investors to participate in a selected portfolio of early stage life sciences companies, taking advantage of the tax benefits available under the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme.

Providing seed investment to emerging companies operating in the life sciences sector, the Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS seeks to fund companies with exciting new technologies that aim to satisfy the needs of large and growing markets.

The Deepbridge Investment Team has a proven track record of working with emerging companies to create value for shareholders through a hands-on investment methodology.

T. 01244 746000 E. Enquiries@deepbridgecapital.com www.deepbridgecapital.com

The Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS is a manager fee-free SEIS opportunity at the point of investment for subscriptions received by a financial adviser. Upfront and ongoing manager fees are paid by the Investee Companies, potentially allowing investors to enjoy up to 100% of SEIS tax benefits. Please see costs and fees section in the Information Memorandum for full details.

The availability of SEIS tax reliefs depends on individual circumstances, may be subject to change in future and depend on underlying companies invested in maintaining their qualifying status. Investment in unquoted companies carries high risks and investors could lose the total value of their investment. Investments in SEIS can be difficult to realise. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

This financial promotion, directed at investment professionals, has been approved by Enterprise Investment Partners LLP (“EIP”). Deepbridge Advisers Limited (FRN: 609786) is an Appointed Representative of EIP, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 604439).

EIS Open

March 2017

Close

Evergreen

Deepbridge Life Sciences EIS

Maximum Raise: Uncapped

The Deepbridge Life Sciences EIS represents an opportunity for private investors to participate in a selected portfolio of healthcare innovation, whilst taking advantage of the tax benefits available under the Enterprise Investment Scheme.

Minimum investment: £10,000

The Deepbridge Life Sciences EIS focuses principally, but not exclusively, on three sectors: • Biopharmaceuticals • Biotechnology • Medical Technology.

The Deepbridge Investment Team has a proven track record of working with emerging companies to create value for shareholders through a hands-on investment methodology.

T. 01244 746000 E. Enquiries@deepbridgecapital.com www.deepbridgecapital.com

The Deepbridge Life Sciences EIS is a manager fee-free EIS opportunity at the point of investment for subscriptions received by a financial adviser. Upfront and ongoing manager fees are paid by the Investee Companies, potentially allowing investors to enjoy up to 100% of EIS tax benefits. Please see costs and fees section in the Information Memorandum for full details.

The availability of EIS tax reliefs depends on individual circumstances, may be subject to change in future and depend on underlying companies invested in maintaining their qualifying status. Investment in unquoted companies carries high risks and investors could lose the total value of their investment. Investments in EIS can be difficult to realise. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.

This financial promotion, directed at investment professionals, has been approved by Enterprise Investment Partners LLP (“EIP”).

Deepbridge Advisers Limited (FRN: 609786) is an Appointed Representative of EIP, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 604439).

GB Investment Magazine · Open Offers

37

EIS

SEIS

Open

Close

Evergreen

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: £5m Minimum Investment: £15,000

T. 01865 784466 E. info@oxfordtechnology.com www.oxfordtechnology.com

Oxford Technology Combined SEIS and EIS Fund - “The Start-up Fund” Oxford Technology invests in high risk, high reward technology start-ups, in general within an hour’s drive of Oxford, and has been doing this since 1983. The latest fund, OT(S)EIS, made its first investment in 2012. By 5 April 2019, OT(S)EIS had made 126 investments in 39 companies.

The figures for the fund as a whole since its inception are as follows: Gross amount invested by OT(S)EIS:

£6.33m

Cash back to investors via tax reliefs:

£2.47m

Net cost of these investments after tax reliefs::

£3.86m

Cash back from exits*:

£0.24m

Fair value of remaining portfolio:

£13.31m

Total value:

£15.78m

Tax free gain (mainly on paper so far):

£9.21m

*OT(S)EIS investors who made an SEIS investment in Animal Dynamics, an Oxford University spin-out at 14p per share (7p after SEIS tax relief) in Jun 2015, had the opportunity to exit in March 2019 at 97p per share (so 14x the after tax share price). About 50% of the shareholders opted to sell with 50% opting to remain – the company is doing very well.

OT(S)EIS remains open for investment at any time. We average about one or two new investments per quarter, and investors in the fund receive their pro-rata share of these. The latest quarterly report, with a page of information on each investment is downloadable from from www.oxfordtechnology.com.

EIS Open

01.09.2017

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: £40m Minimum Investment: £15,000

Oxford Technology EIS Fund - “The Development Fund” Oxford Technology has been investing in technology start-ups since 1983. The Oxford Technology EIS Fund will aim to provide each investor a diversified portfolio of 5 - 10 EIS investments in high risk, but high potential early stage technology companies near Oxford.

T. 020 7222 3475 E. info@oxfordtechnology.com www.oxfordtechnology.com

38

GB Investment Magazine Open Offers GB38 Investment Magazine · October· 2018

Open Offers

EIS Open

01.10.2018

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: £20m Minimum Investment: £10,000

Great Point Ventures EIS Great Point Ventures EIS (“Fund”) presents UK tax payers with the opportunity to invest in EIS qualifying businesses operating in the booming UK creative industries.

The Fund aims to seek out high growth companies and has a broad sub-sector approach designed to offer investors a degree of diversification across content creation, content distribution & marketing, production facilities & services and new media & technology.

Investors will have a minimum of four companies in their portfolio and all companies must have received Advance Assurance from HMRC prior to funds being deployed.

Why Great Point Ventures EIS?

Unrivalled sector experience - the Great Point team have a unique blend of financial, operational, commercial and investment management expertise specific to the media sector T. 0203 873 0028 E. dperkins@greatpointmedia.com www.greatpointmedia.com

Strong opportunity pipeline - significant proprietary deal flow and a number of “first look” deals in place with industry players and leading educational institutions Alignment of interest - the Fund offers a competitive fee structure ensuring Great Point’s interests are aligned with those of the investor Growth focussed - the Fund’s target return is two times gross investment (excluding tax reliefs, inclusive of all costs and fees) Tax efficient - for every £1 subscribed at least 97p will be invested and therefore attract EIS tax reliefs (subject to personal circumstance)

EIS Open

April 2017

SEIS Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised:

Up to £25,000,000

Minimum Investment: £10,000

T. 020 7071 3945 E. enquiries@growthinvest.com www.growthinvest.com

GrowthInvest Portfolio Service A discretionary investment management service which seeks to leverage the experience and expertise of the GrowthInvest investment team to select a diversified portfolio of some of the most promising companies that have passed through GrowthInvest due diligence process.

GrowthInvest is an independent platform, which provides access to tax efficient investments to a growing network of UK financial advisers, wealth managers and investors. The platform aims to bring the advantages of early stage investing to a wider audience of investors and advisers, who are able to benefit from the potentially higher returns these companies can offer and tax efficiency via government approved schemes, such as SEIS and EIS. From our experience working with advisers on the Platform, the Fund has been designed to consist of three sub-funds, each with a separate investment policy. The first will target Investee Companies which qualify for SEIS Reliefs only. The second will target Investee Companies which qualify for EIS Reliefs only and the third will be a mixed investment policy which will target Investee Companies which qualify for SEIS Reliefs and / or EIS Reliefs. You will be able to choose how much of your subscription to allocate to each of these three sub-funds. The Fund is aiming to exit investments after three to seven years.

GB Investment Magazine · Open Offers

39

EIS

SEIS

Open

Close

Now

Multiple

Amount to be Raised: Evergreen

Minimum Investment: £10,000

T. +44 20 3858 0847 E. mark@worthcapital.uk worthcapital.uk

Start-Up Series Fund The Start-Up Series Fund is an evergreen EIS & SEIS service. Managed as an Alternative Investment Fund by Amersham Investment Management Limited, authorised and regulated by the FCA. The service is designed for eligible subscribers to be invested in selected winners of the Start-Up Series, a monthly competition organised by Worth Capital Limited and promoted by startsups.co.uk. The Fund invests in qualifying B2C or B2B companies with innovative products or services that can create new consumer behaviours in growth markets, with teams that demonstrate compelling marketing & communication skills and with a clear credible route to exit.

•

EIS & SEIS investments - choose EIS, SEIS or both

•

Businesses selected by real world, commercial entrepreneurs with deep brand, marketing, retail & innovation expertise – worth capital

•

A unique approach to UK EIS & SEIS fund investing – a monthly competition, around one hundred businesses considered each month

•

Ongoing oversight from experienced investor directors - skilled in helping accelerate growth & reducing risk

•

Investments in ‘mini-portfolios’ of typically 3 or 4 businesses

•

Investments qualifying for attractive EIS & SEIS tax reliefs

Any investment in the Start-Up Series Fund places your capital at risk of total loss and will not be readily realisable. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and is subject to change.

We recommend you take professional advice before investing.

EIS

SEIS

Open

Close

Now

31.10.19

Amount to be Raised: £3.5m Minimum Investment: £20,000

Iron Box Capital: Alive in the Morning Ltd. Alive in the Morning Ltd. will develop, produce, finance and market a slate of unique, commercial films in the horror and thriller/horror genres. Horror is one of the most popular and pro table genres in a worldwide Filmed entertainment market that will be worth a forecasted US$104.62 billion a year by 2019. It is consistently commercially successful as people love to watch movies to be scared, whether at the cinema or at home.

Horror is also one of the most international genres, as fear is universal, transcending cultural and geographical boundaries.

Horror Films additionally can be made on low budgets and do not need star names to attract audiences, offering the potential for a significant return-on-investment.

Advance Assurance has been given.

T. 07528616752 E. raimund@ironboxcapital.com www.ironboxcapital.com

EIS Open

Evergreen

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: £15m+ Minimum Investment: £25,000

T. 020 3327 4861 E. EIS@hambroperks.com www.hambroperks.com

40

Hambro Perks Co-Investment Fund Hambro Perks helps outstanding Founders build world-changing businesses. The provision of permanent, patient capital from our own balance sheet means we are completely aligned with the long term goals and interests of the entrepreneurs and investee companies that we support.

We aim to take early risk in businesses, investing where we can add significant value through applying and sharing the expertise our team has built over many decades’ combined experience of founding, building, internationalising and exiting companies. We believe we are the destination of choice for the very best entrepreneurs, and they actively choose us to support them as they build fast growth tech-enabled businesses. Our main areas of focus are education technology, digital health, insurance technology, digital media and fintech.

The Hambro Perks Co-Investment Fund enables individuals to co-invest alongside and on a fully aligned basis with Hambro Perks, thereby benefiting from this extraordinary access and proprietary dealflow while utilising EIS reliefs. Please get in touch for more information.

GB Investment Magazine Open Offers GB40 Investment Magazine · October· 2018

Open Offers

SEIS Open

Close

Evergreen – multiple close dates

Now

Amount to be Raised: £750K Minimum Investment: £10,000

Iron Box Film & TV seis channel in the Amersham SEIS fund The British Film Industry is growing, and is forecast to grow for years to come. This is fuelled by the global demand for films, through multi on-line channels, including Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Iron Box’s team of experts has specialist knowledge across development, finance, production and marketing of film & television projects. As a company they are well positioned to capitalise on this growth market.

The aim is to focus on the most profitable genres, where there is a clear target audience, and in using proven teams of people that have a track record of making profitable Film & TV shows.

The Iron Box Film & TV SEIS Channel has been designed for UK tax payers who prefer to invest in a managed portfolio of independent filmed entertainment projects, whether for traditional films or television. There are likely to be around 4 films in each portfolio. The fund will finance projects that are commercial, with strong audience appeal, and suit the international marketplace.

T. 07528616752 E. raimund@ironboxcapital.com www.ironboxcapital.com

BR Open

June 2005

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: Unlimited

Minimum Investment: £25,000

The companies will be SEIS eligible.

Octopus AIM Inheritance Tax Service Since 2005, the Octopus AIM Inheritance Tax Service has offered a fast and flexible solution to inheritance tax planning, while providing the potential for significant capital growth through investment into a portfolio of 20-30 companies listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM).

As we only select companies which meet the requirements for Business Property Relief, the shares should become exempt from inheritance tax after just two years, provided they are still held on death.

Our highly experienced Smaller Companies team manages £1.5 billion on behalf of 11,500 investors across the service.

T. 0800 316 2295 E. clientrelations@octopusinvestments.com

octopusinvestments.com

Portfolio companies are chosen after detailed research, which involves spending time with a company’s management team, evaluating its competitors and assessing its financial strength.

Holdings are monitored on a day-to-day basis, with the team making investment decisions.

The Octopus AIM Inheritance Tax Service is also available within an ISA wrapper.

The value of an investment, and any income from it, can fall as well as rise and you may not get back the full amount invested.

Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change in the future.

Tax relief depends on portfolio companies maintaining their BPR-qualifying status.

The shares of smaller companies could fall or rise in value more than other shares listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. They may also be harder to sell.

Issued by Octopus Investments Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered office: 33 Holborn, London EC1N 2HT. Registered in England and Wales No. 03942880. We record telephone calls. Issued: September 2018. CAM07427-1809.

GB Investment Magazine · Open Offers

41

VCT Open

Close

13.09.2018

12.09.2019

Amount to be Raised: £120 million

Minimum Investment: £3,000

Octopus Titan VCT Octopus Titan VCT invests in tech-enabled businesses with high growth potential. It’s managed by Octopus Ventures, one of Europe’s most experienced venture capital investment teams with over 150 years combined experience. Octopus Titan VCT currently has a portfolio of around 65 early stage companies operating in a diverse range of sectors.

Over the last decade we’ve backed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs, including the founders of Zoopla Property Group, Secret Escapes and graze.com just to name a few.

It targets a tax-free dividend of 5p per annum, plus special dividends if portfolio companies are sold at a significant profit. Investors can also claim 30% upfront income tax relief on the initial investment up to £200,000 and any capital growth is tax-free.

T. 0800 316 2295 E. clientrelations@octopusinvestments.com

octopusinvestments.com

The value of an investment, and any income from it, can fall as well as rise and you may not get back the full amount invested.

Tax reliefs available depend on individual circumstances and may change in the future. Tax reliefs also depend on the VCT maintaining its VCT-qualifying status.

VCT shares could fall or rise in value more than other shares listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. They may also be harder to sell.

Please be aware that this advertisement is not a prospectus, and investors should only subscribe for shares based on information in the prospectus or Key Information Document (KID), which can be obtained from octopusinvestments.com/titan. Issued by Octopus Investments Limited, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered office: 33 Holborn, London EC1N 2HT. Registered in England and Wales No. 03942880. We record telephone calls. Issued: September 2018. CAM07411-1809

EIS Open

Evergreen

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: Evergreen Minimum Investment: £15,000

Downing Ventures EIS Downing Ventures EIS invests in high risk, high potential return investment opportunities with a principal focus on early-stage UK technology companies, while also providing access to attractive EIS tax reliefs.

The teams invests across a variety of sectors, with a focus on enterprise software, health technology and e-commerce.

Each of these young, growing businesses will be high risk with a significant chance of failure.

However, the following factors should help to manage risk: • Diversification: investments are estimated to be spread across a portfolio of 10 - 15, where possible in a variety of sectors.

T. 07946 117770 E. Bill@Downing.co.uk www.downing.co.uk

IHT Open

Evergreen

BR Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: Evergreen Minimum Investment: £25,000

• Due diligence: a high number of opportunities will be investigated before each investment is made. In 2018, the team reviewed around 100 companies a month.

It’s anticipated that investors will be given the opportunity to exit their investments between four and eight years from subscription.

Downing Estate Planning Service Downing Estate Planning Service (DEPS) aims to preserve investors’ capital by focusing on two sectors: businesses trading from freehold premises and/or energy businesses. We believe these are lower risk than other tax-efficient sectors. DEPS is designed to offer full IHT relief on subscriptions after two years, by investing in a portfolio of businesses that qualify for business relief.

The service has been designed with the following key features: • Targets capital growth of 4% per annum over the medium term (this is a target and not guaranteed).

T. 07946 117770 E. Bill@Downing.co.uk www.downing.co.uk

• Receive distributions (paid on a quarterly, six-monthly or annual basis).

• Access to capital twice a month, with no charges or penalties on exit (subject to liquidity, Downing’s discretion and 10 days’ notice).

Additionally, we offer two insurance policies for this service: • Downside protection cover (at no additional cost): covers the first two years (before the investment obtains IHT relief). It covers a loss in value of up to 20% on initial net investment on death.

• Life cover (optional – at an additional cost): mitigates the effect of IHT for the first two years before IHT relief begins. It covers 40% of the original gross investment (which would be payable to HMRC) upon death within the first two years.

42

GB Investment Magazine Open Offers GB42 Investment Magazine · October· 2018

Open Offers

IHT Open

Close

Evergreen

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: Evergreen Minimum Investment:

£100,000

Downing AIM Estate Planning Service (DAEPS) Downing AIM Estate Planning Service (DAEPS) enables investors to own a portfolio of AIMlisted shares and is designed to offer full IHT relief on subscriptions after two years, by investing in companies that qualify for business relief.

We aim to manage risk by spreading funds across at least 20 companies from different sectors on the AIM market.

Other key features:

T. 07946 117770 E. Bill@Downing.co.uk www.downing.co.uk

• Downside protection cover (at no additional cost): an insurance policy that covers the first two years (before the investment obtains IHT relief). The policy covers 20% of any net loss in value on death under the ages of 90 years.

• Ownership and control: allow investors to retain full ownership of the investments.

• Capital growth: companies will be selected based on analysis on operational business, longevity of earning and alignment between management and equity shareholders.

• Access: enable investors to withdraw capital from their portfolio at any time, subject to liquidity and 10 days’ notice.

IHT Open

Close

Evergreen

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: Evergreen Minimum Investment:

£100,000

Downing AIM ISA (DISA) Downing AIM ISA (DISA) gives investors the opportunity to invest in a portfolio of AIMquoted companies, combining IHT relief (after two years) with ISA tax benefits, by investing in companies that qualify for business relief.

We aim to manage risk by spreading funds across at least 20 companies from different sectors.

Other key features: • Downside protection cover (at no additional cost): insurance policy that covers the first two years (before the investment obtains IHT relief.) The policy covers 20% of any net loss in value of death under the ages of 90 years.

T. 07946 117770 E. Bill@Downing.co.uk www.downing.co.uk

• Ownership and control: allows investors to retain full ownership of the investments.

• Capital growth: generate capital growth from the portfolio of investments.

Companies are selected based on analysis of their operational business, longevity of earnings and alignment between management and equity shareholders.

• Access: to enable investors to withdraw capital from their portfolio at any time, subject to liquidity.

EIS Open

Evergreen

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: Uncapped Minimum Investment: £20,000

Symvan Capital Symvan Capital has an established and award-winning track record of growth-oriented investing. We invest in scalable and disruptive technology businesses – companies that seek to impact and change established business models or industries. We look for businesses with a unique proposition and the potential to deliver ten times our investment.

Symvan scours the market to find founders with strong teams who have vision, drive and flexibility to deliver results within reasonable time frames. We fund, mentor and support them through to exit. We provide both management and expert advice from our own team and from our network.

T. 020 3011 5097 E. ml@symvancapital.com www.symvancapital.com

There are zero upfront or ongoing charges to the investor. We charge the investee companies instead. Therefore, investors can claim 100% of the EIS tax reliefs.

The only fee Symvan eventually charges investors is a 20% performance fee, which is dependent on a successful exit. Consequently, Symvan is very exit focussed.

We typically add no more than five to seven new companies to the portfolio per year, in line with our “deeper not wider” investment philosophy.

GB Investment Magazine · Open Offers

43

EIS Open

Close

Now

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: £10m Minimum Investment: £25,000

Nexus Investments’ Scale-Up Fund The Nexus Investments’ Scale-Up Fund provides each investor a diversified portfolio of 8 – 10+ EIS investments in high risk, but high potential early-stage entrepreneur-led businesses. These businesses will be in one or more of the data, digital, education and health sectors, the areas of greatest potential for UK companies to make an impact in the coming 10-20 years.

As well as the Fund, Nexus Investments serves a large and active business angel co-investor group.

The Fund Manager, Nexus Investments, has been arranging, advising and co-investing in these areas since 2014, having developed a promising track record and a distinctive investment model.

Returns are expected to take the form of outright sales of portfolio companies, with an average holding period of 5 - 8 years.

T. 0207 104 5595 E. info@nexusgroup.co.uk www.scaleupfund.co.uk

EIS Open

Close

July 2018

28 June 2019

Amount to be Raised: £20m Minimum Investment: £50,000

Calculus Capital EIS Fund Pioneers of tax efficient investing, Calculus Capital created the UK’s first approved EIS Fund in 1999.

Our 19 year track record of investing in growing UK companies assures investors of our ability to make sensible investments capable of delivering excellent returns at every stage of the economic cycle.

Calculus has won multiple awards, including the EIS Association’s ‘Fund Manager of the Year’ in February 2017, the fifth time the firm has been awarded the accolade and more recently was awarded Best EIS Investment Manager at the Growth Investor Awards in November 2018.

Calculus are recognised as having an incredibly robust investment process and an active portfolio management style - which has led to an impressive track record of successful exits.

The Calculus Capital EIS Fund focuses on established companies with growth potential, across a diverse range of sectors. An investor can expect a portfolio of 6-10 companies with the following characteristics: • The ability to achieve our target IRR of 20% • Experienced management teams

T. 020 7493 4940 E. madeleine@calculuscapital.com www.calculuscapital.com

• Successful sales of proven products or services • Profits or a clear path to profitability • Clear route to exit Calculus’ investment strategy is exit led, with a key focus on delivering strong returns to investors.

The 18 month investment programme commences after relevant closing date.

Calculus value their reputation for client service as much as their investment record, and are focused on building long standing relationships with both clients and advisors. Please get in touch to find out more on 020 7493 4940 or info@calculuscapital.com

VCT Open

September 2018

Close 30 August 2019

(2019/20 tax year)

Amount to be Raised: £10m Minimum Investment: £5,000

Calculus Capital VCT Pioneers of tax efficient investing, Calculus Capital have a strong track record for investing in established, unquoted SMEs. Our experienced investment team and thorough investment process have produced impressive dividend performance and exit returns for investors. By co-investing in selected established companies through both VCT and EIS, we are able to choose larger companies and bigger deals – reducing the risk profile of the investment. The Calculus VCT has the following characteristics: • Targets an annual dividend of 4.5% of NAV • Income tax relief of 30%, tax-free capital gains and dividends • Diversified portfolio, targeting 30 qualifying companies • Share certificates issued 10 days after allotment • Allotments available in both 2018/19 and 2019/20 tax years • Monthly standing order option available • Target 5% discount in respect to share buyback after 2020

T. 020 7493 4940 E. madeleine@calculuscapital.com www.calculuscapital.com

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The top up offer will be used to both invest in new companies with growth potential and provide further funding to a number of portfolio companies.

Calculus value their reputation for personal service as much as their investment record, and are focused on providing an excellent client experience. Please get in touch to find out more on 020 7493 4940 or info@calculuscapital.com

GB Investment Magazine Open Offers GB44 Investment Magazine · October· 2018

Open Offers

EIS Open

Close Evergreen with quarterly tranche closures

19.09.2016

Amount

to

be

Raised:

£50m

Minimum Investment: £20,000

Guinness EIS The Guinness EIS seeks to invest in at least five investee companies to create a portfolio of investments across a range of sectors.

Characteristics favoured by the investment management team are asfollows: • Businesses with experienced management teams - Many entrepreneurs are serial entrepreneurs. They have successfully builtand sold companies and we look at their sector specific successes when they are looking for investment in new/ existing ventures • Businesses with good visibility on future growth - Maturing companies and businesses with clearly defined growth paths

T. 020 7222 3475 E. shane.gallwey@guinnessfunds.com www.guinnessfunds.com/eis

BR Open

Close

03.09.2018

Open ended

Amount to be Raised: Open ended

Minimum Investment: £25,000

• Businesses with expanding working capital requirements - Successful businesses often require additional funds to expand their working capital to fund stock and debtor growth.

The Guinness EIS is an evergreen service with tranche closures at the end of each quarter. All subscriptions received in the current tranche will be invested in the 2018/19 tax year.

Guinness Sustainable Infrastructure Service Subscriptions made to the The Guinness Sustainable Infrastructure Service will be invested into shares of one or more companies that qualify for Business Relief with no initial fee for advised clients.

Investee companies will own and operate Sustainable Energy projects, such as roof mounted solar. These projects have strong visibility of revenues that are usually index-linked which helps to achieve capital preservation.

Target Return to investors is in excess of 5% p.a. net of fees which is aided by fixed capital costs, low operating costs and predictable revenue streams with low annual variability.

T. 020 7222 3475 E. shane.gallwey@guinnessfunds.com www.guinnessfunds.com/iht

BR Open

January 2018

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: Open ended

Minimum Investment: £40,000 (£20,000 for additional investment)

Inflation-linked long term (20 year plus) Power Purchase Agreements are able to benefit from government subsidies where available.

Clients are able to benefit from access to their capital by redemption of shares on a regular or ad hoc basis.

Guinness Best of AIM Service The Guinness Best of AIM Service is a discretionary managed service investing in AIM-quoted companies that qualify for Business Relief with the potential for capital growth.

The rigorous quantitative portfolio selection approach has been adapted from the process used in Guinness Asset Management’s successful range of global equity funds. The detailed screening process is underpinned by the quality, value and conviction of each eligible AIMquoted stock.

The service consists of a high-conviction concentrated portfolio of 20 companies across a range of sectors that have persistently generated a real return on invested capital. We target a low portfolio turnover to minimise dealing costs whilst maintaining a competitive fee structure.

T. 020 7222 3475 E. shane.gallwey@guinnessfunds.com www.guinnessfunds.com/iht

Clients are able to access their capital, without exit penalties, enabling them to retain control of their assets.

GB Investment Magazine · Open Offers

45

EIS Open 2012

Close Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: No maximum

Minimum Investment: £20,000

Par Syndicate EIS Fund Par Equity is an award-winning EIS Fund Manager, investing in innovative, high growth potential technology businesses across the UK. We harness the expertise and contacts of our Par Syndicate and wider investor network to create a distinctive, operationally focused investment model that benefits both investors and entrepreneurs.

Our investor network provides unrivalled access to the right people at the right time, who enhance our deal flow, improve our due diligence, fine tune business models and guide the entrepreneurs through to exit. Entrepreneurs recognise Par Equity as an added value investor, which is reflected in our strong flow of investment opportunities.

Strategy for the Fund: • Focused on early stage technology companies with high quality management teams addressing global markets

T. 0131 523 1057 E. pauline.cassie@parequity.com www.parequity.com

• Co-investing with experienced angel investors who add value to portfolio companies at each stage through to exit • Target portfolio of 7 - 8 investments • Target deployment within 12 months • Expected holding period of 5 - 7 years with a benchmark IRR of 15% Experience and track record of the Fund Manager: • Award-winning investor • 10-year track record • 53 investments made • £128m deployed • 14 realisations achieved: • 3.2x multiple (before tax relief) • 26% blended IRR • 3.6-year average holding period

EIS/SEIS Open Now

Close Evergreen with quarterly close

Amount to be Raised: £10m Target

Minimum Investment: £25,000

E. invest@o2h.com www.o2h.com/ventures

46

o2h Ventures Therapeutics Fund o2h Ventures Limited has launched the first fund in the UK solely focused on early stage biotech therapeutic and related AI opportunities in the UK. The geographic scope shall be UK wide but will target the growing Cambridge biotech cluster.

The fund is headquartered in the o2h SciTech Park, Cambridge, where it can provide the incubation and support as part of a community to the companies it has invested in to help them achieve a critical value inflexion point. The team at o2h have access to some of the most exciting ideas through its live grass roots working relationships fostered with entrepreneurs and scientists over many years.

A shift in focus of the large pharmaceutical companies from developing innovation in-house to acquiring innovation externally increased demand for the best science providing earlier exit options.

The fund is structured to be S/EIS compliant providing generous income, inheritance and capital gains tax breaks for UK tax payers. We plan to build a portfolio of 5-12 unquoted per investor.

Investors may download the Information Memorandum at www.o2h.com/ventures.

GB Investment Magazine Open Offers GB46 Investment Magazine · October· 2018

Open Offers

EIS Open

May 2019

SEIS Close

Evergreen: First tranche for 2019/20 closes October 2019

Amount to be Raised: £5m Minimum Investment: £10,000

Jenson SEIS & EIS Fund 2019-20 Applying a very structured sector agnostic investment approach, the Fund targets exciting, innovative and disruptive technologies which qualify for SEIS investments, where we typically invest the full allowable amount of £150,000 per company.

These investee companies are then nurtured via the Investee support programme, which provides financial and operational assistance to enhance returns, a key differentiator between Jenson and other SEIS and EIS providers.

The EIS element of the fund is used to provide follow-on funding to fully exploit commercialisation of a proven business model. Specifically, the EIS fund will concentrate on the best of the Funds existing portfolio but will always be benchmarked relative to new external company opportunities.

Having access to an extensive and existing SEIS portfolio enables follow on funding at a fair price.

T. 020 7788 7539 E. seis@jensonsolutions.com www.jensonfundingpartners.com

EIS Open

Evergreen

SEIS Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: N/A Minimum Investment: £5,000

Jenson Funding Partners has been investing since 2012 and has made over 100 investments. To date the SEIS has invested over £13.5 million and the EIS, combined with the syndicated investors, has invested over £6 million and raised over £5million of debt facilities.

The combined SEIS and EIS structure enables an individual to choose whether to invest in earlier start-up companies within SEIS or later stage companies under EIS, invest solely via SEIS or EIS or split funds across both.

GrowthInvest - The Tax Efficient Platform for Advisers GrowthInvest is a unique, independent platform which provides access to tax efficient investments to a growing network of UK financial advisers, wealth managers and investors. Originally founded by financial advisers in 2012 as the Seed EIS Platform, we rebranded as GrowthInvest in October 2016 to better reflect the wider range of products and services available: We permit investment into a range of single company offers, as well as Managed EIS Portfolio Services and funds, giving clients a number of different investment options.

• We offer a simplified asset transfer process which allows advisers to place all of their clients’ tax efficient investments onto the platform.

• We provide intuitive online reporting tools, allowing advisers to monitor, analyse, and provide consolidated performance updates and quarterly reports to their clients.

T. 020 7071 3945 E. enquiries@growthinvest.com www.growthinvest.com

• All investable companies go through one of 3 defined due diligence tiers, giving added peaceof-mind to the adviser.

• A single, secure online environment for all clients to review and build their tax efficient investment portfolios.

We’ve placed the adviser at the heart of everything we do, making it straightforward for advisers to improve the service they offer to their clients in the tax efficient investment arena. Please visit us at growthinvest.com for more details about our current open investment opportunities.

GB Investment Magazine · Open Offers

47

EIS Open

Close

Now

1st April 2019

Amount to be Raised: N/A Minimum Investment: £10,000

Fund Twenty8 EIS Fund Twenty8 follows the decisions of sophisticated private and professional investors to automatically build you a diversified portfolio of no fewer than 28 EIS-qualifying startups.

The fund’s strategy is based on extensive research conducted by NESTA and Intelligent Partnership, which asked the question: how many startup investments should I have?

The magic number appears to be: no fewer than 28. With this many startups in your portfolio, the study suggests a 95% chance of at least one giving you a return of 10X or more. With this in mind, the fund is targeting a return of over 20% IRR, including up to 30% EIS tax relief.

Now in its fourth fund, Fund Twenty8 has attracted over 400 investors, with an average investment of £21,000 (ranging from £10,000 to over £300,000 for advised clients). The fund has invested into more than 50 companies to date.

T. 01223 478558 E. fundtwenty8@syndicateroom.com www.syndicateroom.com/funds/ fund-twenty8

EIS Open

31st January 2019

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised: Target £10m Minimum Investment: £20,000

or £5,000 under the future investors scheme

T. 0785 091 5378 E. sanjeev.gordhan@newable.co.uk www.newable.co.uk

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Risk warning: Investing in early-stage businesses involves risks, including illiquidity, lack of dividends, loss of investment and dilution, and it should be done only as part of a diversified portfolio. SyndicateRoom is targeted exclusively at sophisticated investors who understand these risks and make their own investment decisions. Tax relief depends on an individual’s circumstances and may change in the future. In addition, the availability of tax relief depends on the company invested in maintaining its qualifying status. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. You should not rely on any past performance as a guarantee of future investment performance. This message has been approved as a financial promotion

by Syndicate Room Ltd, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (No. 613021).

Newable EIS Scale-up Fund The Fund seeks to leverage Newable’s unique corporate infrastructure and the extensive eco-system built by Newable and London Business Angels over the last 35 years. Bringing together the best entrepreneurs, partners and investors to invest in and help scale high-growth businesses.

We target the funding gap that exists for businesses which have de-risked their technology, developed traction with customers and now seek funding to scale their commercial operations.

The Fund aims to provide investors with a diversified portfolio of 7-10 EIS qualifying investments per subscription across our key sectors; SpaceTech, Life Sciences, Automation and Electronics.

The Newable Investment Committee has over 100 years of combined investment experience with a track record of making successful investments across the Innovation and Technology space. Our EIS funds to date have an average of 29% IRR with a failure rate of 21%

GB Investment Magazine Open Offers GB48 Investment Magazine · October· 2018

ACQUISITION AND SALES

O F I FA BUSINESSES Retirement?

Time for a change?

There are countless reasons to sell your IFA business, just as there are countless reasons to get hold of one.

WE A RE A SPECIAL I ST F I N A N C I A L S AL E S , C O NS U LTA NC Y A ND B R O K E R AG E BU SI N ESS. Gunner & Co.’s mission is to work directly with you, whether you are looking to realise the capital in your business, or you are looking for growth through a merger or acquisition.

We consider every business to be unique, and therefore finding the right solution for you starts with a thorough understanding of your business operations and your wish list.

Only from here can we make valuable introductions which align to both party’s needs.

If you would like to discuss options to sell, exit or retire, or acquire IFA businesses, please get in touch for a confidential discussion.

louise.jeffreys@gunnerandco.com

gunnerandco.com

EIS Open

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised:

£20 million

Minimum Investment:

£20,000 (£15k if both spouses)

T. 0207 927 7465 E. Enquiries@endven.com www.endven.com

EIS Open

Evergreen

Close

Evergreen

Amount to be Raised:

c. £30m

Minimum Investment:

£25,000

Endeavour Ventures Managed Portfolio Service Building on our successful track record in growth EIS investing since 2005, Endeavour’s new Portfolio Service has been designed to provide many of the advantages of a managed EIS fund, but with better flexibility and no initial or annual fees for investors. Total fees are kept low, and clients receive 100% EIS relief on the money we invest.

Endeavour builds each client a diversified portfolio of companies across technology sectors that we know and understand. We focus on enterprise software, property and legal technology related platforms, cloud-based software delivery, workforce management and optimisation, data management platforms, and we have developed expertise in payments, FX and in fintech. We also diversify across stages of development, we seek out companies that are showing increasing customer traction, and many of our investments are into maturing businesses wishing to expand. The number of investments held by a client increases over several years tax years to give optimum diversification.

The objective is to enable clients to consistently benefit from EIS reliefs against tight deadlines while providing a base case return on capital of 1.6x to 2x over a 5 year period. This is against Endeavour’s 12 year audited cash to cash track record of 6.1x cost.

Our investment team understands growth investment complexities and timeframes. We have the right combination of skills for due diligence, investing, assisting and monitoring portfolio companies, and for exiting investments. We know that growth investing requires resilience over a number of years, and therefore forge strong partnerships between management teams and our own team members, that endures throughout the course of the investment cycle and on to exit. The most recent portfolio exit was Blue Prism Group Plc, providing Endeavour’s investors with a return of 150x and securing the EISA’s 2017 Best Exit of the Year.

MMC Ventures EIS Fund Invest in the UK’s fastest growing technology companies • Performance: In the last 24 months, MMC has delivered five positive exits returning an average of 2.7x to investors.

• Experience: MMC has been backing the UK’s fastest growing tech companies for 19 years, making them one of the most experienced managers in the EIS space.

• Commitment: More than £11 million has been invested by the MMC founders and team alongside its investors, on the same terms.

T. 0207 361 0212 E. invest@mmcventures.com www.mmcventures.com

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Investors in MMC’s EIS Fund can expect deployment over a 12-18 month period in a diversified portfolio of c. 10 companies. The Fund targets a 2-3x return over a 4-8 year holding period.

GB Investment Magazine Open Offers GB50 Investment Magazine · October· 2018

GB Investment Magazine · Open Offers

51

THE GROWTHINVEST PORTFOLIO SERVICE.

OPEN FOR BUSINESS.

The GrowthInvest Portfolio Service allows Advisers to introduce their clients to the best of our SEIS and EIS qualifying investment opportunities in a single discretionary managed fund.

If you or your clients are interested in a diversified portfolio of tax-efficient investments,

then contact us to find out more. We are helping UK small businesses to realise their full potential, whilst giving Advisers the tools to introduce their clients to this exciting investment category.

For more information contact us now at growthinvest.com

MAKE IT YOUR BUSINESS