IT’S NOT TOO LATE FOR EIS

GBI Magazine has asked Bulletin’s Martin Fox to look at the issue of deployment within EIS. Here he highlights some of the EIS portfolios which are currently available if you’re looking to deploy by the end of this tax year.

If you have tax funds you want to deploy by the end of this tax year there are two things you can do right now. 1. Join IFA Magazine for the webinar on Thursday 4th March from 10am-11:30am as they discuss an easy to follow guide on the exact steps to take for maximum tax efficiency in EIS before April 5th. You can register for the webinar HERE https://register. gotowebinar.com/register/7751131877406992651 2. Check out the following EIS portfolios which are guaranteed to deploy into eligible companies before this tax year ends. Mark Brownridge, Director General of the EIS Association said “We all know a deadline helps focus the mind and never more so than with the tax year-end. With 6th April now hurtling into view, it’s vital financial planners take the time to understand the full EIS market before making their EIS and SEIS recommendations to clients. Of particular importance is being aware of when and how client’s money will be invested. If your recommendations are reliant on monies being invested before the tax year end, now is the time to discover which funds can and can’t meet this objective. “

ASCENSION VENTURES

One of the companies Ascension Ventures will be investing in this tax year is Better Nature. Better Nature is a leading all-natural plant-based protein brand and UK food tech company focused on tempeh fermentation. By developing flavoursome, nutritious and all-natural meat-free products, the company is producing a product packed with protein that doesn't compromise on people, the planet or animals. The team is exceptional, with market leading and patented technology and Ascension sees the meat-free category as a key growth market. As a result of a consumer change in buying habits through a realisation of the detrimental health and climate impact of a meat-based diet, the plant-based market is booming as consumers adopt vegan, vegetarian and flexitarian diets in larger numbers. The UK meat-free market generated £530m of sales in 2020, with the global plant-based market expected to grow to $74.2bn in 2027 with an avg CAGR of 12% (sources: The Grocer, Grand View Research and Vegan Society). Close 4th of April 2021. Deployment expected before the end of tax year.

ARIE CAPITAL

ARIE Capital will be deploying into four companies and an example of one of these is Engage.do It is a white label web application platform delivering bespoke and audience engagement solutions. Engage has developed an industry leading web application platform that enables brands to quickly and efficiently build complex web and mobile applications at a fraction of the cost of traditional development processes. Through Engages proprietary and versatile platform, brands can build their own app by adding in their choice of prebuilt modules such as on-boarding, chat, news feed, push notifications payments and subscriptions to create a bespoke customer experience. Once built, brands can then maintain a clear overview of their app’s performance through Engage’s physical access management and admin dashboard, as well as fully integrate with an existing CRM, allowing them to measure, adapt and constantly improve the way they engage with their customers.

Evergreen. Deployment before the end of tax year.

THE SIDE BY SIDE PARTNERSHIP

The Side by Side Partnership will be deploying on the 31st of March, with a target return of 3x and no initial or annual fees charged to investors so clients get 100% of their fund for tax relief.

One of the companies they will be investing in is LaundryHeap provides an on-demand laundry & drycleaning service, offering collection and delivery in just 24 hours. LaundryHeap’s customers for the laundry service include both individual (B2C) customers and B2B businesses using the service for their guest’s laundry in hotels or in the short-let and Airbnb market.

Competitors have often entered the market with significant capital outlays, however, with a cost efficient model and the ability to easily scale-up and down as required, we believe LaundryHeap is in an extremely competitive position within its market. With the recent increased focus on sanitisation and hygiene, we believe that the linens rental side (B2B) of the business is well positioned to benefit from the predicted increase in travel bookings as we emerge from the pandemic. Next close is 30th of March 2021.

Deployment 31st of March 2021.

PAR EQUITY

Par Equity will be deploying into 6 companies this tax year. One of the companies is a digital forensics company. This company's patented technology helps law enforcement, social media and cloud service providers find and block harmful content, such as child pornography and terrorism. The company’s first product, a digital breathalyzer helps police and counter-terrorism units in the field determine if devices have harmful content within minutes (versus days with incumbent solutions). The second generation product goes even further and prevents harmful content from being uploaded onto social media sites and file sharing platforms. Well in revenue, with huge addressable market and a highly impressive team with a heavy hitting advisory board. Par is leading a £4.5m investment round into this business.

Close 12th March 2021.

Deployments before tax year end.

HAATCH VENTURES

Haatch will be deploying into 5 companies before the end of the tax year. One of the companies is a health technology digital platform that provides a clear personalised analysis of your body’s current state to enable you to lead a healthy lifestyle and help prevent chronic illness. It quite literally has the potential to preventing illness before it happens. Given the right personalised information people can change their lifestyle to postpone and eliminate chronic illness years before symptoms become detectable. The difference is the ability to link genetic results to lifestyle and functional testing assessments while providing granular personalised recommendations all in one place. No other platform currently offers this. Close 19th March 2021.

Deployment expected by 2nd April 2021.

NOVA

Nova will be deploying into 24 different companies, mostly through seed EIS, but a few in EIS to support some of their growing companies. An example of one of these is a business that will innovate the resell market. Currently there are 9m people in the UK selling goods online, most second hand, and the figure is growing. Very simply this business lets you know what your unwanted and unused items are worth across the resale market, such as eBay, Amazon, Depop and Facebook. The investee company will tell customers which platform is most appropriate to sell on and which will get you the best price, and allows you simply upload to your chosen Marketplace. The company’s founder said, “we are making the secondhand market transparent, so people can sell more and earn more themselves. The market is growing, and we also in trials with charities to help them. We also have eyes on the US market, with 58m people currently selling online. Next close 19th of March 2021.

Deployment planned before end of tax year.

VALA CAPITAL

One of the companies that the Vala EIS Portfolio will be backing is The Sustainability Group, led by Mike Penrose, a former exec at Unicef UK and Save the children International and Alex Smith, an experienced commercial director with significant sustainability experience. The funds will enable the team to expand its operations and develop a highly scalable platform for advising businesses, foundations, financial institutions and family offices on how to make sustainability and social purpose an integral part of their operational and investment approach. Jasper Smith, founder Vala Capital, says: 'Sustainability is a core focus at Vala and we hope it will be intrinsic to all business. It is rare that you find a company such as The Sustainability Group that has the skills, experience and technology to become a leader in business transition and we are delighted to support them in this exciting venture.’ Close date for this tranche 30th March 2020.

Deployment before end of tax year.