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CONTENTS
CHAPTER • 1
Foreword
Mark Brownridge, Director General of EISA
Introduction
Looking Beyond Brexit
Paul Wilson, Chairman of IFA Publications and Chair of EIS Magazine Working
groups on Policy and Communications
Michael Wilson, EIS Investment Overview
CHAPTER • 2
Thought Leadership
CHAPTER • 3
Cyrus Investments
Hardman & Co.
Deepbridge Capital
Par Equity
SyndicateRoom
Worth Capital
Downing
Investment Spotlight
CHAPTER • 4
Blackfinch
Gizmo Films
Worth Capital
GrowthInvest
Time Investments
Seneca Partners
Mercia Fund Management
Deepbridge Capital
SyndicateRoom
Par Equity
Enhanced Focus
CHAPTER • 5
Guinness Asset Management
Blackfinch
Oxford Capital
SyndicateRoom
Mercia Fund Management
Ingenious
Deepbridge Capital
EISA Members’ Directory
CHAPTER • 6
Open Offers
Telephone: +44 (0)117 9532 003
Editor-in-Chief: Michael Wilson
editor@ifamagazine.com
City Editor: Neil Martin
neil.martin@ifamagazine.com
Commissioning Editor: Michelle McGagh
Publishing director: Alex Sullivan
alex.sullivan@ifamagazine.com
Design: Fanatic Design
www.fanaticdesign.co.uk
EIS Magazine is published by
IFA Magazine Publications Limited,
The Tobacco Factory, Loft 3, Bristol BS3 1TF
Full subscription details and eligibility criteria
are available at www.eismagazine.com
©2016. All rights reserved.
EIS Magazine is for professional advisers only.
Full subscription details and eligibility criteria are available
at www.eismagazine.com
EIS 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.

FOREWORD
Well, what a year it has been! We’ve
voted to leave the EU and have seen a
paradigm shift in our political makeup.
Within EIS Association (EISA), we
have also seen plenty of change
and writing this foreword gives me
a chance to thank my predecessor
Sarah Wadham for her hard and
inspirational work as Director General
over the past three years.
Three months into my tenure as Director
General I have used the time to talk to
as many people involved in the industry
as possible to canvass views and get
feedback on all things EIS, and I find
the industry in a positive frame of mind
despite the uncertainties that swirl
around us. We are clearly entering a
time when Britain will be in a state of flux
following the referendum decision back
in June but I’m a passionate believer
that it will be small companies that drive
Britain forward and deliver us the growth
and prosperity that we will surely need.
However, those small companies can only
deliver that growth if they have access
to the equity funding they desperately
need to start, build and grow and that’s
where EIS has a significant contribution
to make. At a recent meeting with
Chief Secretary to the Treasury David
Gauke, it was refreshing to hear how
supportive he was of EIS and SEIS and
this should give everyone involved in EIS
great hope for its future wellbeing. My
challenge to the industry is to highlight
those companies who have benefitted
and succeeded from EIS funding and
champion them to as wide an audience
as possible, but particularly to MPs and
to government. With this support, we
can continue to convince government
of the positive return they receive from
their investment in EIS socially, politically
and economically.
The 2016/17 EIS Yearbook is once again
a highly valuable EIS resource and I’m
delighted to have been asked to write
the foreword. At EISA, we continue to
see overwhelming interest in EIS from
all sides; small companies looking to
raise equity finance that they otherwise
struggle to access, an increasing number
of diverse providers keen to enter the
market, investors looking for exciting
investment opportunities within a taxadvantaged
environment and financial
planners who wish to present their
clients with an investment that combines
tax planning with positive returns.
As I sign off, I’d like to reach out to
financial planners and let them know
that EISA will be focusing strongly on
engaging with them over the coming
months to help them discover new
opportunities for how they can embed
EIS into their recommendations. Watch
this space.
Mark Brownridge
Director General, EIS Association
4 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

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INTRODUCTION
In the new economic and political
environment, where Brexit has
become a certainty, the stage is set for
unprecedented levels of support for
British industry, which will be one of the
engines of future prosperity.
Since the 1980s the UK government
has supported fledgling high-risk startups
and their expansion through State
Aid, but from 1994 it has favoured the
Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) as
its preferred mechanism for investing
in the country’s newest business
ventures. In effect UK Plc has been a
co-investor alongside your clients, with
the government using the tax system to
channel its support. The government’s
continued support for over 20 years
reflects the excellent return, not just for
investors, but for wider society.
In the past few years there has been
a lot of media focus on ‘tax breaks for
the wealthy’ and there is a danger that
investors may misunderstand the reason
for the investment as being tax driven,
when in fact the underlying investment
and potential for returns are the real
driver. The tax relief is in effect a direct
grant to the enterprise, not the investor.
This yearbook sets out everything you
need to know about EIS; who is who,
how it works and how the risks are
managed through investment selection,
management and exit strategies.
With many clients excited about
crowdfunding, it is more important
than ever to guide clients to the best
investments and funds available, and
delegating the picking of winning
companies has never been as important
to returns as in this sector, which is why
it is best entrusted to fund management
specialists who not only pick winners,
but nurture and mentor them through
their development to exit.
Keep up-to-date throughout the
year with EIS Magazine which will
be with you bi-monthly with regular
updates and information on the best
current schemes available, or you
can visit www.EISmagazine.com for
live updates.
Paul Wilson
Chairman of IFA Publications and Chair
of EIS Magazine Working Groups on
Policy and Communication
6 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

LOOKING BEYOND BREXIT
Welcome to EIS Magazine’s annual
Yearbook for 2016/17. And what a
year it’s been. According to the EIS
Association’s recent letter to Prime
Minister Theresa May, EIS has
trebled its fundraising levels since
2011, with a record £1.6 billion
being raised during 2014/15, the
most recent year for which we have
firm data. And that in turn brings
the total of equity funding raised
since 1994 to more than £14 billion,
benefiting some 25,000 SMEs. Plus
another £400 million or so per
annum for venture capital trusts.
encounters between HMRC and the
so-called ‘Icebreaker’ providers which
had allegedly set up creative arts EIS
schemes designed primarily to avoid
tax, and which - in almost all cases,
as it turned out – had no commercial
purpose at all.
This sort of adverse publicity has done
the mainstream EIS sector no good
at all. Many parliamentarians, EISA’s
supporters claim, have a pretty pitiful
level of knowledge about EIS and
VCT - a survey by the Entrepreneurs
Network had highlighted that at least
a third of MPs had never even heard
of the Brexit vote. A great many
of the constraints on EIS and VCT
investment (such as the exclusion
of alternative energy projects) have
stemmed from Brussels. Would
this not be an excellent moment to
consider their removal?
“Much of the complexity imposed on
these schemes by Brussels needs
to be removed to enable these
growing companies to make their full
contribution to a vibrant UK economy.
Lifting most or all of these restrictions
would be a quick, simple and decisive
step in the right direction to getting
£5.3mn
2011 2014/15
£1.6bn
£14 BILLION
SINCE 1994
That’s a colossal result, whichever way
you look at it. But (have you noticed
that there’s always a ‘but’?), the
association has been on the warpath
to make sure that its voice gets heard
against the increasing din from a
turbulent parliamentary scene in the
aftermath of the Brexit vote. Mrs May
might have dumped George Osborne
from the chancellorship, but it’s not yet
entirely clear that his successor Philip
Hammond has been giving enough of
an ear to the concerns of the industry.
That needs to change.
Crackdown, Crackdown..
Instead, all we seem to be getting from
the Cabinet at present is the need to
‘crack down’ on rogue operators, and
to punish any adviser who proposes
a tax mitigation scheme that HMRC
might belatedly consider to have been
aggressive avoidance. That wouldn’t
have been such a cause for concern
(after all, 99% of EIS schemes are
utterly open and straightforward),
if only it hadn’t been for a series of
bruising and very public high court
of EIS or SEIS. And too many of those
who had heard of them had acquired
a negative view. That’s not a good
starting point.
The Fightback Starts Here
By the time you read this yearbook,
we should have got the first outlines
of the new report that Mrs May has
commissioned into the subject of
aggressive avoidance - and I want to
stress that every financial adviser has
an interest in keeping up with this
one, and in making his or her voice
heard. All the talk in high places about
hefty fines for advisers, solicitors
and accountants who propose what
are being (sometimes very loosely)
defined as aggressive schemes needs
to be met with a very determined
insistence that considerations of tax
efficiency are part and parcel of what
financial advisers do every day of
their lives.
Meanwhile, the EISA’s letter to the
Prime Minister makes another
very valid point in the aftermath
the UK economy performing, post-
Brexit. Such a move would be
welcomed by SMEs across the UK
and would also serve as a positive
demonstration that Brexit can bring
benefits, by unshackling business
from EU-imposed regulation that
hinders their growth.” - EISA
The EISA’s letter reasserts that “the
vibrancy and dynamism of SMEs is
one of the UK’s strongest economic
assets, and [that] the importance
of EIS and SEIS in incentivising
the provision of equity investment
for SMEs is likely to be ever more
important as we go forward. EIS is
about empowering entrepreneurial
companies by providing the
investment for them to prosper and
grow.” That means ending some of
the present funding constraints at this
pivotal point in history.
Michael Wilson
Editor in Chief
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
7

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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE CREATION OF AN
EIS INVESTMENT
Peter Schwabach, Managing Partner at
Cyrus Investment Management, investigates
how companies are picked for investment
and how fund managers work with them
10 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Thought Leadership
The summer of 2016 will no doubt be remembered as the
hottest summer on record but for EIS investment managers,
more pertinently, it will be remembered as a historically
difficult one as managers chased overworked part-time
HMRC case officers to find out whether their applications
for advanced assurance - under the new Finance Act rules
of November 2015 - would be approved.
In the heat of that process - critical to both Investors, IFAs
and managers – it was no doubt easy to forget that the EIS
investments themselves and not just the certificates, were
the priority. Setting aside the requirement to secure EIS
approval for investments our job is all about investing our
clients’ money wisely and delivering a meaningful return
after three years.
One of the unintended (or perhaps) intended consequences
of the 2015 Finance Act is that it radically transformed
the role of many EIS managers from astute buyers of EIS
eligible assets into that of entrepreneurial managers of
multiple small businesses.
Furthermore, by introducing a seven year age limit on
businesses where a manager could take a majority stake
and restricting investments into businesses older than
seven years into a specific new product or market, the
focus of the manager shifted still further into the heart of
the business by requiring a manager to determine which
product or market the business should now focus on.
At Cyrus Investment Management (CIM), where we have
been investing EIS funds into existing British engineering
companies since 2013 with the specific aim of doubling
their size and value in three years, the change of focus from
the macro to the micro (as introduced by the Finance Act)
has made little impact on our modus operandi. Managing
SMEs is the core competence of our investment team
and it is the direct engagement with the management
and workforce of the different businesses we invest that
remains our focus.
As venture capitalists our particular brief is to invest in
“best in class”. British engineering businesses which have
long term orders with blue chip clients in growth industries
such as aerospace, security and defence. We only invest in
businesses that have exclusive or difficult to obtain “moat”
accreditations, ie. industry accreditations granting them
the right to make products in strategically sensitive and
technically advanced industries such as nuclear, aerospace
or defence, thereby restricting the number of national and
international competitors.
We then monitor over a hundred different aspects of a
potential investment which vendors are then put to proof in
an extensive due diligence process, which CIM funds itself.
Historically we will only invest in 5% of all the businesses
we consider for investment.
What happens next?
Having made an investment we will then introduce into
each business a centralised financial reporting system, a
uniform quality control system, a sophisticated monitoring
system that enables us to understand the actual cost
of each product and component made and monitor the
individual efficiency of each machinist and engineer.
To these measures can be added the improvement in
the financing terms on pre-existing machinery or new
equipment, the improved terms negotiated with suppliers
where raw materials are bought not just for one business
but on behalf of all of them. Add to that the standard renegotiation
of leases on existing premises or alternatively
the signing of leases on new premises.
Notwithstanding the fact that many of our businesses
are fully state of the art with robotic machinery operating
24 hours a day – and machines whose costs run into the
hundreds of thousands of pounds - we regard our most
valuable assets as the people who manage and operate
them. They, and not the machines, are the ones who can
grow the business and particular attention is paid to hiring
or replacing them.
Our aim at the end of the three year period is to have a
complimentary group of companies, centrally managed
that can be sold as a single going concern at a premium to
trade buyers or institutional investors.
Post Brexit – we remain very confident as the particular
sector of the market we service – precision engineering
– has seen a growth in orders as a result in the fall in
the pound.
Let’s hope next summer is a lot cooler!
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
11

WHAT THE EIS MARKET
NEEDS NOW: MORE
RESEARCH
Advisers need to ensure their research into EIS
is robust but are being held back by a lack
of information, says Keith Hiscock, Chief
Executive of Hardman & Co
EIS has gone from strength to strength
in funding growth companies and has
had a material impact on employment.
Unfortunately, the analysis and research
of this asset class has not matured
in step and remains inadequate for
advisers and investors.
Many are kidding themselves if they think that
‘research’, which is little more than ‘cut and
paste’ from a manager’s website or advertorial
copy, is going to be deemed adequate. This
research gap is holding EIS back from being
considered a mainstream asset class.
12 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Thought Leadership
Let’s not be shy here. EIS has been a great success in funding growth companies and creating jobs. Since inception
in 1993/94 £14 billion has been raised, and recent years have seen an acceleration. The latest data from the HMRC
demonstrates this:
EIS has also been a big hit with investors. Recent years have seen a sharp uptick in the number of subscriptions with more
than 135,000 being made in 2014/15, the latest tax year for which HMRC has published. Clearly, increasing restrictions
on high income earners making provision for their pension is one of the drivers, as is the growing evidence that EIS can
deliver very satisfactory returns. These suggest a bright future for advisers that understand the field well.
EIS Subscriptions: Number
14,000
0
1993 2015
Source: HMRC, Hardman & Co
1800
Funds rasied through EIS £m
0
1993 2015
All companies raising funds
Source: HMRC, Ipsos MORI, Hardman & Co
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
13

But the EIS world has an image problem. It is seen as risky
and overly focused on tax benefits. Many commentators
are, in particular, concerned about the poor quality of
research in this investment class. Even the Financial
Conduct Authority (FCA) has fired a warning shot. In a
paper published in February, the regulatory body found
that many advisory firms ‘demonstrated inconsistent and
insufficient research’ and that the poor quality of research
and due diligence across many investment products is a
root cause of sub-standard results for consumers.
Too often advisers and investors focus on the tax benefits
and not the underlying investment. They plunge into EIS
companies and schemes without understanding the
investment they are making. Not surprisingly they can
unwittingly get caught in risky ventures and the EIS world
gets a bad name.
The mindset of the EIS world can perhaps be gauged by
the language used. Many participants talk of ‘tax-efficient’
investing; in fact, one ‘research’ house even includes that
phrase in its name. Another party uses the term ‘tax shelter’
as part of its report title. Both terms imply that the key (and
perhaps only) driver to making an investment in an EIS
product should be driving down an individual’s tax charge,
rather than understanding the investment case. Hardman
& Co deliberately uses the phrase ‘tax-enhanced’ – we
believe that the tax benefits from EIS investing should be
an extra return on the investment, not the main reason to
make it. Another acceptable term is ‘tax advantaged’, which
the HMRC and some participants use.
The industry’s encouragement to advisers and investors
to have a mindset focused on saving tax is demonstrated
by evidence from Google. A search for the term ‘EIS+Tax
Relief’ returns 115,000 results, compared with 5,070 for
‘EIS+Opportunity’ and a mere 2,740 for ‘EIS+Growth’.
HMRC recently commissioned a report looking at which tax
benefits were important to EIS investors. The table is below.
To be fair, the survey sought to explore attitudes to tax, so
there wasn’t an option for investment that respondents
could tick. However, qualitative interviews which followed
up the survey showed that some investors, at least, had
considerations other than tax:
• For some investors ‘loss aversion was a particularly
important factor in decision making’
• Some investments would have been made without the
tax relief because they were driven by entrepreneurial
(e.g. a former businessman wanting to help start-ups
in his old industry) or philanthropic reasons
• Some felt that being part of a group of EIS investors
gave comfort about the business potential
There is research available on EIS to advisers and investors.
Unfortunately, it often falls short of what would be
considered acceptable in other asset classes. For example,
much research fails to consider:
• The past performance of a management team
• Performance attribution – i.e. did one lucky investment
make up for 19 disastrous ones?
• Risk analysis. The FCA paper comments that firms
‘should not rely on the provider’s opinion, for example,
on the investment’s risk level’ – cut and paste won’t do
• The real fee structure, which can include hidden
charges, such as a member of the manager’s team
receiving payment from an investee company
as a director
• The qualities of the underlying investments – not
surprising since much of the work is not conducted
by investment analysts, but by writers with an
accounting background
How important would you rate each of the following in your decision
to invest through the Enterprise Investment Scheme?
50
0
Any tax
advantaged
element
Income
Tax
relief
Capital
Gains Tax
exemption
Capital
Gains Tax
deferral
Loss
relief
Inheritance
Tax relief
Flexibility
of the
scheme
% of all EIS investors saying essential % of solo EIS investors % of syndicate EIS investors
14 EIS Magazine · Yearbook 2016/17

Thought Leadership
In fact, much of what is loosely called
‘research’ in the EIS space does
nothing more than combine factual
‘cut and paste’ from the manager’s or
company’s website with the manager’s
response to the research house’s
questionnaire. This is not research
– it is advertorial copy. It might save
the adviser or investor the bother of
reading the manager’s investment
memorandum, but it doesn’t add value
and should not be considered research
by professional investors.
Some research providers have
attempted to produce a scoring
system. The aim is commendable
– to provide a simple measure for
advisers and investors. Unfortunately,
the scores are entirely subjective,
opaque and unverifiable. The
assessment is divided into sections
such as ‘Objectives/Business Model’,
‘Management Team’ and ‘Deal Flow/
Exit’; a score is given for each section
and a total calculated. But there are
two glaring issues here.
First, there is no publicly available
explanation as to how the score
is determined in each section -
what justifies 17/20 for one fund
in one section versus 18/20 for
another fund?
Second, how is the weighting for each
category determined? For example,
one provider’s report weights the
‘Track Record’ at 40% of the score,
whilst ‘Management Team/Deal Flow/
Exit’ all together only merit 20%.
We are not suggesting these sector
scores and weights are wrong, our
point is that, without disclosure of
the underlying template for scoring
and weighting, the outsider can
only assume that the numbers are
plucked out of thin air. The idea of
scoring may be laudable, but the
execution is specious. Thus advisers
are kidding themselves if they think
they have carried out due diligence
by considering these scores – if
prompted by the FCA how would they
explain how they are derived?
Some advisers seek to overcome the
lack of analysis by advising clients to
diversify – don’t put all your eggs in
one individual company or fund. Such
diversification should certainly be
part of an investment strategy, but it
should not be a substitute for research
on each fund or company – how can
you be sure that diversification does
not mean you end up with ten duds
instead of one?
In response to this need for rigorous
analysis Hardman & Co entered the
EIS research market less than a year
ago at the behest of a number of
the participants.
Hardman is an FCA registered firm,
which already has a long roster of EIS
clients. Our aim is to bring the analytical
rigour for which we are known in other
asset classes to the tax-enhanced
world. The firm has a 20-year track
record of writing independent
research on quoted companies, with
market capitalisations ranging from
the smallest to £750 million.
It also carries out due diligence for
investment banks, corporate finance
boutiques, and private equity houses.
It is asked to conduct investment
case evaluations for major global
businesses, family offices, sovereign
wealth funds and act as expert
witness in complex court cases where
the valuation of a business is critical.
We have a team of investment
analysts, most with more than 20
years’ experience of understanding
the fundamentals of their industries
and businesses and discerning the
investment case and risks. Indeed, our
media analyst, Derek Terrington, was
cited by the Financial Times in its 2006
article ‘A catalogue of great analyst
notes of our time’ for his so-called ‘crap
circular’ regarding the float of “Robert
Maxwell’s Mirror Group” empire where
his advice was ‘Cannot Recommend
A Purchase’.
As the demand for EIS grows, there
has never been a more critical time for
EIS advisers and investors to raise their
game in research and understanding.
Only by doing so can the EIS industry
throw off the accusation that it is all
about risk, tax benefit and poor return.

16 EIS Magazine · Yearbook 2016/17

Thought Leadership
RISK EQUALS REWARD:
UNDERSTANDING TAX-
EFFICIENT INVESTMENTS
EIS can bring rewards for clients but advisers must
be clear about the risks associated with alternative
investments, says Ian Warwick, Managing Partner at
Deepbridge Capital
According to HMRC data,
during the 2014/15 tax year the
amount raised by UK companies
seeking funding via EIS was a
record £1.7 billion. Much of this
was raised via financial advisers
seeking tax-efficient investment
opportunities for clients that
either have a specific tax need
or have an interest in investing
in small UK businesses.
In previous years, the growth in
appeal of EIS investments has
often been attributed to the rise of
renewable energy within this space
and the asset-backed, subsidised
nature of such projects offering
‘capital preservation.’ With the
Chancellor removing subsidised
renewable energy projects from
EIS eligibility it is good to see that
there remains growing appetite
for provision of equity funding to
UK SMEs via EIS.
However, it is important that
advisers and investors understand
the unique risks associated with
such investments.
Yearbook 2016/17 · www.eismagazine.com
17

Investment risk
Investment managers take varying approaches to
mitigating investment risk. Most of us agree that a
diversified portfolio approach to investing is one way
to mitigate risk, but I would temper this by arguing that
diversification across too many companies restricts the
ability to gain significant returns from what should always
be considered a high risk investment. My team’s approach
to mitigating risk is to invest only in specific sectors
where they have knowledge and experience and to take
a proactive hands-on management approach with the
investee companies to ensure that they are growing as
expected. This is how we believe we have the best chance
of delivering real growth to investors whilst mitigating
investment risk.
As with any investment, the value of shares can go down
as well as up. Investors should be aware that investment
in smaller unlisted companies carries with it a high degree
of inherent risk regardless of any steps taken to attempt to
mitigate that risk.
Investment risk may be mitigated in a number of ways, with
some providers advocating investment in ‘asset-backed’
projects where there is a physical asset within the investee
company that could potentially be sold if the worst came
to the worst and an investee company was to fail. If looking
at such a proposition, it should be assessed as to what
the secondary market and the value of the underlying
asset would realistically be if the company was no longer
trading. For example, a storage company may be deemed
to be ‘asset-backed’ as the storage facility is a physical
asset. However, if the storage company were to fail then
the value of the prefab building without any trading
company is likely to be minimal. There are other ‘assets’
within companies that could be considered, for example if
considering a technology based investment then attention
should be given to the importance the manager attributes
to intellectual property as this could actually be a valuable
asset in its own right.
With loss relief available under EIS it could be argued that a
focus on asset-backed opportunities is unnecessary. Loss
relief is available for EIS shares which are disposed of at
any time at a loss (after taking into account EIS income tax
relief which is retained). The loss could potentially be set
against the investor’s capital gains or his/her income in the
year of disposal or the previous tax year. For losses offset
against income, the net effect is to limit the investment
exposure to as much as 38.5p in the £1, depending on the
investor’s marginal rate of income tax, if the shares become
totally worthless. Alternatively the losses could be relieved
against capital gains at the prevailing rate of 18% or 28%.
Liquidity
EIS shares are usually held in unlisted companies, from
which investors might only be able to exit via a refinancing
or company sale. EIS investments should be considered as
a medium-term or long-term investment and investors are
unlikely to have access to their capital during the investment
period. Having a pre-arranged exit is not permissible under
EIS rules and investors should be wary of any provider
suggesting the guarantee of an exit.
EIS providers should be exit focused and, by understanding
the investment rationale and experience of the investment
management team, investors should be able to ascertain
how focused they are on generating real exits for real
returns. I’m confident most investors would rather wait a
few months for an optimum exit rather than a ‘churn’ of an
EIS investment at three years to just claim the tax reliefs.
Tax risk
It is expected that the new Chancellor will continue the
work of his predecessor and scrutinise EIS opportunities
which do not adhere to the original spirit of EIS, i.e. seeking
to create jobs or innovation. Two things that should be
considered on this point are that propositions which do
not fund companies that are seeking to generate jobs or
innovation will likely cease to be eligible for new EIS funding
and there is the chance that the HMRC, with their increased
18 EIS Magazine · Yearbook 2016/17

Thought Leadership
budget and appetite for challenging tax mitigation, may
retrospectively review companies that have raised funds
via EIS.
Investors should seriously question any EIS proposition
where it is marketed as having reduced or little investment
risk. Such propositions are likely to be at risk of HMRC
review in future and it could be argued that the ‘challenge
risk’ with such propositions is markedly higher than an
investment where the underlying investee companies
are genuinely seeking growth and the creation of jobs
or innovation.
Deal flow risk
By the nature of what we do as tax-efficient investment
managers, we face a constant balancing act. We have to
ensure that we have enough investment inflow to fulfil
the funding requirements of our investee companies,
yet we also have to ensure that we have enough capacity
to satisfy investor demand. We have very stringent
investment criteria so identifying and then investing in
companies which meet these criteria can be a challenge.
We see this balancing act as being a fundamental part
of our business and our raison d’être. Working closely
with academia, science parks, funding specialists,
government supported agencies, networks of innovators
and independent advisers there are always a number of
companies looking for funding via EIS and SEIS. This is
especially true in our focal sectors of technology and life
sciences, the trick for us is finding those that meeting our
stringent criteria.
Potential investors should be checking with their
proposed investment managers as to where their funds
will be deployed. Understanding how they source their
investee companies and knowing their investment
criteria will help advisers and investors avoid a scenario
where funds are invested in any old business just
because it qualifies for EIS or SEIS. It should be assessed
as to whether the investee companies are appropriately
matched with the skillset of the manager.
This issue can sometimes be highlighted towards
the end of the tax year as advisers rush to invest prior
to tax year end. My team’s objective is therefore to
ensure that an investor in March can be confident that
their money will be invested in companies in which we
wholeheartedly believe in, just as they would at any
other time of the year. Unfortunately this philosophy
isn’t shared by all in our industry and those who merely
invest to claim tax reliefs may not have the same desire
to find genuine growth companies. As our investment
team is predominantly made up of experienced business
builders and entrepreneurial minded individuals, we
are fortunate to be referred numerous companies from
our extensive network of innovators who all understand
our expectations.
Investing in EIS propositions is not for everybody
but anybody considering such an investment should
clearly understand the additional risks associated with
such propositions.
As one adviser recently said to me: “All EIS investing is
high risk and if a client is suitable for such an investment,
and is of appropriate net-worth, then they should want to
make real returns from their EIS.”
This is not the case for everyone but I understand this
adviser’s sentiment that as only a small part of a client’s
portfolio, why shouldn’t they seek to make real returns
from their EIS investment?
Tax-efficient investments bring with them different risks
to your traditional mainstream investment products.
Therefore, advisers should take a moment to understand
where their client’s money is being invested and
understand the rationale behind the investment.
Yearbook 2016/17 · www.eismagazine.com
19

Advisers need to
understand why EIS exists
– and the asset class it’s
intended to stimulate – to
understand which clients
are likely to benefit from
EIS investments.
WHICH CLIENTS
WOULD BENEFIT
FROM EIS?
Andrew Castell, Partner at Par Equity,
identifies why EIS is beneficial and which
advisory clients it is suitable for
As other tax-advantaged long-term saving opportunities
are chipped away at, EIS stands out.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, though, especially
where HMRC is concerned, so their continuing
commitment to such an apparently generous incentive
tells us something. Advisers need to understand why
EIS exists – and the asset class it’s intended to stimulate –
to understand which clients are likely to benefit from
EIS investments.
What and why is EIS?
Venture capital involves taking an equity stake in businesses
with high growth potential. Returns can be many times
the amount invested but, if things don’t go well, capital is
genuinely at risk.
According to PitchBook, which analyses the venture
capital market, recent returns have been especially strong
– median internal rates of return (IRR) for venture funds
have increased from 4.4% for the 2005 vintage to 16.4%
for 2011, with a drop to 12.8% for the 2012 vintage.
The top quartile of funds in the 2010 vintage has posted a
32.5% IRR (sufficient to grow £1 to £5.41 over six years).
Despite this, and for a variety of reasons, the UK has
struggled with a capital shortage in relation to venture.
Although originating in the dotcom bubble at the end of
the last century, this capital shortage continues to be a
problem for early stage companies.
EIS is one of HMRC’s two venture capital schemes aimed
at solving this problem. A powerful bundle of tax reliefs,
it’s aimed at stimulating investment in growth companies,
encouraging investors by giving them the chance to
mitigate their investment risk. In this way, EIS ups the flow
of capital into high growth potential companies and the
high-value jobs they create. The government is content
20 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Thought Leadership
to see taxes foregone through EIS because the benefits
(company formations and job creation) outweighs the
costs to the Exchequer.
According to PitchBook’s research, the median fund TVPI
(the ratio of fund value to paid-in capital) is above breakeven
in each of the 12 years they looked at (2001 – 2012, as the
most recent funds aren’t yet producing meaningful data),
with 1.17x the worst year and 1.56x the best. Adjusting for
EIS, this would equate to a median TVPI in the best year of
2.23x and 1.67x in the worst. Better yet for EIS investors,
gains are usually tax-free, while losses can be offset against
income tax.
EIS should therefore be seen for what it is, a tax incentive
to encourage investors to provide capital to a vital part of
our economy, by allowing those investors the opportunity
to mitigate investment risk and improve their investment
returns as a result.
Which clients might be interested in
EIS investments?
Venture capital has a low level of correlation to major asset
classes such as listed equities and bonds. As a result, it sits
well within a portfolio, with a positive effect on expected
returns at little or no increase in the overall portfolio risk.
A client with an investment portfolio of £1 million could
potentially accommodate an allocation to venture of
£100,000 without materially increasing the overall portfolio
risk – but with the benefit of EIS, this decision becomes a
lot easier.
If that £100,000 allocation were to be built up at a rate of
£20,000 a year, the client would be reducing their annual
income tax bill by as much as £9,000, as well as deferring
capital gains tax (CGT) of £20,000 a year (£5,600 of
CGT deferred).
One way of looking at this is that it greatly improves the taxefficiency
of the client’s overall portfolio, which is likely to
give rise to an ongoing flow of taxable income and capital
gains. Put another way, the £100,000 allocation to venture
might only cost £70,000. The cash cost to a client building
up the venture part of their portfolio over several years can
fall further with the potential to benefit from exit proceeds
before the portfolio has been fully built up.
A client with an interest in venture capital can therefore
achieve his aims at a significantly lower cost - as the analysis
of TVPI ratios illustrates, venture capital returns can be
materially enhanced by EIS, with additional advantages in
the form of loss relief and CGT relief. Other reliefs, such
as rollover relief and IHT relief, can drive significant further
value for clients with specific tax objectives, for example
if they:
• are paying high marginal rates of income tax;
• have CGT liabilities they wish to manage;
• are looking at estate planning; or
• are at or approaching the limit of their
pension allowance.
Which clients are EIS investments suitable for?
EIS is a complex scheme and increasingly subject to
detailed anti-abuse provisions. For these reasons, it’s
not guaranteed that EIS relief will remain available across
an entire portfolio. It’s therefore important that clients
are comfortable with the underlying investment first and
see EIS as an extra (and potentially considerable) benefit,
rather than fixating on tax.
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
21

Thought Leadership
As venture capital is a long term asset class, with a high
level of investment risk at an individual company level, it’s
for investors who understand that losses will happen within
their overall portfolio and that they may often have to wait
patiently for the good investments to come through. An
allocation to venture should be from money that the client
isn’t relying on in the short to medium term.
Even within the venture portfolio, diversification is key.
It’s wise to diversify over time as well as over sectors and
sub-sectors. Clients should therefore be able to commit
to investing most, if not all, years over a period of several
years. If things go well, exits should start coming through
within that horizon, providing the cashflow, if required, to
fund the next five years – and so on. If you consider that
doubling one’s money over five years pre-tax represents
an almost three-times multiple post-tax, it’s easy to
see how an ongoing investment programme can become
self-financing.
In considering suitability, therefore, it’s likely that the client
will have:
• a sophisticated grasp of business and investment;
a sophisticated grasp of
business and investment
• the appetite to assume risk; and
• a long term investment horizon.
Particularly, the client will need to be prepared for early
losses within the venture capital portfolio, often coming
through before the profits.
How are advisers using EIS investments?
Investors can choose from a variety of routes if they want
to access EIS investments. As well as funds, they may look
at single company EIS opportunities, whether on a rifleshot
basis, as part of a portfolio service, or through equity
crowdfunding sites.
However it’s done, the challenges of building a portfolio
one company at a time are not to be underestimated and
few advisers have the expertise or indeed time to advise
clients on the suitability of single company EIS investments.
As a result, advisers rightly tend to focus on EIS funds.
Advisers have been quick to appreciate the value of EIS
funds as a tax planning tool, but unfortunately this has too
often been reflected in a desire for structured products
with supposedly low levels of investment risk.
With a growing realisation in the market that EIS is
getting back to its roots as a measure specific to growth
companies, its effectiveness as a tax-planning tool remains,
but advisers are having to think a bit harder about portfolio
theory. Considered as a stand-alone investment, venture
capital is risky. Considered as part of a well-diversified
portfolio, venture capital investment in the form of
subscriptions to EIS funds has little or no effect on overall
risk and can materially enhance portfolio returns on a posttax
basis – even before the returns from the venture capital
investments are factored in.
the appetite to
assume risk
a long term
investment horizon
22 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

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EIS Yearbook 2016/17
23

EIS AND THE HUNT
FOR RETURNS
Diversification is key to steady returns, but
how you diversify is just as important, says
James Sore, Chief Investment Officer at
SyndicateRoom
Interest rates are at a historic low, UK gilts yields
continue to fall, and property – both commercial
and residential – is under pressure. In this unstable
environment, more and more investors are beginning to
look elsewhere to grow their finances.
To find it, they’re going to have to move up the risk curve
for a chance at higher returns meaning the percentage of
portfolios that include EIS and VCT investments and the
weighting those investments hold within these portfolios
will only increase.
EIS investments are often uncorrelated to main market
movements, at least on a day-to-day basis. They also
come with significant risk-reducing tax reliefs and high
potential returns, and as such offer an attractive investment
opportunity for investors.
Fintech companies have been breaking down barriers to
entry and increasing the sophistication of access to retail
investors, and financial advisers are also becoming more
comfortable with the inclusion of EIS deals in portfolios. But
what’s the best way to navigate this investment landscape
and what should you think about when selecting an
investment strategy?
The finance free lunch
The Nobel Prize-winning economist Harry Markowitz
famously once said:
‘Diversification is the only free lunch in finance’
It’s a wonderfully satisfying soundbite, but what exactly does
he mean and how should we interpret this statement in
order to inform investment decisions and maximise returns?
Building a broad portfolio of investments of different stages,
liquidity, sectors, sizes and types reduces the chances of
having highly correlated investments within the portfolio,
where macro changes such as housing market changes,
unemployment or general market performance can affect
all investments in the same way. Having an array of different
types of investments also allows for a balance of risk and
returns which should be in line with your overall investment
risk profile. The higher-risk end of your portfolio should
include some earlier-stage equity investment exposure,
especially if you are not approaching retirement.
Simply diversifying by buying a smaller stake in a number of
deals can potentially reduce your risk exposure compared to
24 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Thought Leadership
The more you know about the business,
the closer you can get to accurately
assessing its intrinsic value and not its
stock price, which is often a very poor
mechanism for valuing a business
SOURCE
PRICE
NEGOTIATE
INVEST
Yearbook 2016/17 · www.eismagazine.com
25

Investors should always be searching
for ways to improve their odds of
success. This can be achieved in
two ways:
1. Train to become a proficient
investor and select the very best
deals yourself, or
2. Follow professional investors or
investment strategies and invest
alongside them through the various
products available.
26 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Thought Leadership
investing larger amounts in a smaller number of companies;
that much is obvious. The problem is that to diversify, as
an isolated investment strategy, is not all that is needed.
What is important is to also make sure the underlying
investments are of the highest quality.
Buying a diverse selection of rotten vegetables doesn’t
magically make them fresh again.
Investors should always be searching for ways to improve
their odds of success. This can be achieved in two ways:
1. Train to become a proficient investor and select the very
best deals yourself, or
2. Follow professional investors or investment strategies
and invest alongside them through the various
products available.
Going it alone
Deciding to become an angel investor is not a decision to
be taken lightly, but for those that become proficient there
are massive potential returns to be made.
Going it alone means you will source, price, negotiate
and invest in the companies you chose. Berkshire
Hathaway’s Vice Chairman, and arguably one of history’s
most successful investors, Charlie Munger, stresses the
importance of knowing the businesses you are considering
investing in – really knowing them, the market, their
competitors, their plans and achievements made to date.
The more you know about the business, the closer you
can get to accurately assessing its intrinsic value and not
its stock price, which is often a very poor mechanism for
valuing a business.
If you then discover an investment that is trading at a
significant discount to its intrinsic value (this can be the
public or private price being offered), you can decide to
invest. This discount between the market (offer) price
and intrinsic value is essential as it gives you a margin of
safety for the inevitable ups and downs in the price of
that investment.
Follow the leader
These two pieces of investing advice do somehow seem to
be competing requirements:
‘Diversify your portfolio’ and ‘know your sector’
Investing in private companies is difficult. There is a huge
level of choice on offer, and to really ‘know’ the vast array
of sectors required to build that diversification takes a
huge amount of time, dedication and, well, knowledge.
You wouldn’t be alone in asking; how can I diversify
outside of my knowledge base confidently enough to
invest? Well, just as Aristotle, Confucius and Socrates all
believed, real knowledge is knowing the extent of one’s
ignorance; it is vital to know the limits of your knowledge
and invest accordingly.
If you wish to invest in discrete investments but do not
have the time, knowledge or connections to source, price,
negotiate and invest in the opportunities yourself, you
can invest alongside other angel investors in a syndicate.
However, care should be taken as to how best to gain
exposure to these investment opportunities. One option
is to invest alongside angels on an investor-led® platform
such as SyndicateRoom, which offers you the same share
class and price as those experienced investors leading
the rounds.
If, however, you are looking to gain exposure to a market
but do not feel you have the knowledge, time and interest
to select and build your own portfolio, investment funds
offer a compelling option.
Funds offer investors access to a wide range of
investments focused on delivering risk-adjusted returns.
Whether actively or passively managed, all funds seek to
diversify by holding many tens of investments in a portfolio.
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) have become extremely
popular because they are transparent, offer significant
levels of diversification, have low fees and provide retail
investors access – something that was previously reserved
for the very wealthy but is now accessible to near all. ETFs
offer a diverse selection and construction of investments
from a single investment into the fund. Active funds aim to
beat the market by generating returns that exceed overall
market returns.
When deciding whether to choose a passive or active
managed fund, returns should always be compared after
fees and expenses. When this is performed, passive
funds often outperform actively managed money. Charlie
Munger recommends having a selection of long-term
ETFs, a passive product, and leaving them alone, as the
practice of frequent rebalancing can erode returns due to
the fees associated.
Options for passive investors to diversify in the early-stage
space are quite limited. It’s possible to invest in an actively
managed EIS fund, but such funds usually only invest in
between five and eight investments each and are generally
single sector. One option would be to invest in a number
of such active EIS funds, but the minimum investment per
fund often exceeds £25,000, sometimes climbing as high
as £100,000, which means you would have to commit
hundreds of thousands each year.
I find this lack of diversification and low portfolio size very
strange. Yes, these high-risk investments have the potential
to yield high returns, if low levels of liquidity, and yet the
number of investments per fund is lower and spans fewer
sectors which increases your risk exposure.
It’s this counter-intuitive behaviour that drove us to build
the first passive EIS fund, Fund Twenty8.
Fund Twenty8 offers early-stage investors the benefits
of an ETF-style approach to passive fund management,
multi-sector exposure and a portfolio approach where
we guarantee at least 28 investments per fund. Each
investment is led by an angel, syndicate or professional
investment fund and Fund Twenty8 invests alongside
them, benefiting from their knowledge and experience.
You can find out more information about Fund Twenty8
and other products we offer at www.syndicateroom.com
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
27

FROM SMALL ACORNS
MIGHTY OAKS GROW:
WHY SEIS MATTERS
Matthew Cushen, Co-founder of Worth
Capital, looks at the rise of SEIS and the returns
on offer
Equity investing in early stage start-up businesses is
becoming an increasingly common component of a
diversified portfolio. The generous tax reliefs available
from the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) are
the most oft quoted benefit of seed investing. But this is
only one part of the equation.
There is also emerging data to illustrate a healthy return on
investment and unlike many financial products, this is one that
clients get excited about - following the fortunes of ‘their’ startups
and sharing stories about investing in real businesses.
The big picture
The normal rules of business have changed and it’s nimble
entrepreneurs that are challenging the old order and being the
catalyst for our disruptive age. It’s start-ups that are creating
new consumer behaviours and leading a recovering economy.
28 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Thought Leadership
Start-ups are usually unencumbered by the deeply
entrenched thinking and bureaucratic shackles that stifle
large businesses. They have recently started to enjoy
some of the advantages that used to only come with scale,
for example:
• The cost of entry for a start-up is rapidly decreasing – a
retailer can create an online shop window for almost
nothing, and an app can be built for less than £5,000.
• Social media allows a new entrepreneur to interact with
their consumer, grow a brand and make it personal and
relevant to a precise audience, all at low cost.
• Entrepreneurs now can think globally from day
one – selling in multiple markets and sourcing from
multiple markets.
50%
growth are created by ‘high growth small businesses’ that
make up less than 1% of UK businesses and make up less
than 3% of the UK economy.
This growth is not just the preserve of London and the
South East. It is creating opportunities across the UK –
with nearly three in five of these growth businesses based
beyond London and the South East, with 70% of turnover
being out of London.
These are just some reasons that the UK government has
been supportive of small business and start-ups. One of
Theresa May’s earliest speeches on becoming Prime
Minster was to emphasise her government’s commitment
to supporting and listening to smaller businesses.
Part of the government’s support, for the last couple of
decades, has been to create tax incentives for investors
that support early stage seed investing.
“I want to build an economy that works for all, and that
means working with, and listening to, smaller firms.”
Theresa May, Prime Minister
Expected returns on investments
made since January 2012.
0%
20x
Large businesses now routinely buy start-ups as a
preferred route to get hold of new technology, products
and services. Whilst we might immediately think of
Google’s venture arm, many older ‘legacy’ businesses,
such as Kelloggs, Campbells and Amex, also now have
venture funds. One of the most active businesses is
Unilever and in the last few months their deals have ranged
from putting in £500,000 alongside a crowdfunding round
for the on-demand beauty service Blow, to spending $1
billion buying out Dollar Shave Club.
Driving growth
The need for fast growing start-ups to contribute to the
overall health of our UK economy is heightened by Brexit
created uncertainty.
The Octopus High Growth Small Business Report 2015
finds that one in three new jobs and 20% of economic
The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme
The EIS was set up in 1994 and continued to be supported
through Labour governments. It has since been made
more attractive by the Conservative government, and has
established itself as a part of tax legislation that neither of
the main parties would be likely to compromise.
SEIS, established in 2012, is an extension of EIS and offers
even more generous reliefs as an incentive for investors in
very early stage businesses.
In the 2014/15 tax year, 2,185 companies raised £168
million through SEIS, growth from 1,995 companies and
£148 million in funding in 2013/14.
But it can’t be a growing source of funding without
a growing and enthusiastic body of investors. SEIS
is becoming an established part of a sophisticated
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
29

investor’s portfolio and a growing number of IFAs
and wealth managers are including SEIS funds in
their recommendations to clients. A survey by the
EIS Association found that 14% of advisers already
recommended SEIS investments and 61% of all advisers
expected their use of SEIS (and EIS) to increase over the
next year.
Tax advantages for investors
Often it is the tax reliefs that first catch the eye for potential
SEIS investors - reliefs that reduce risks and increase
return on investment.
Within some criteria, a company can raise £150,000 in
funding covered by SEIS reliefs.
An individual investor can make multiple SEIS investments
up to £100,000 per annum, qualifying for:
• 50% income tax relief: claimed back through selfassessment
in the tax year following the investment
or ‘carried back’ and claimed immediately against the
previous tax year
• 100% capital gains exemption: gains upon exit, after a
three year qualifying period, are tax free
• 50% capital gain re-investment relief: capital gains
may be reinvested in SEIS to achieve re-investment
relief, restricted to half of the gains realised
• loss relief: should a company fail the net investment
(total minus the income tax relief) is multiplied by your
tax rate and reclaimed from income tax
• 100% inheritance tax relief: provided that investments
are held at the time of death and have been held
for two years
For an investor with capital gains and a higher rate income
tax liability, the total available reliefs can cover 84% of the
investment - only 16% of their investment is at risk
HMRC publishes comprehensive guides to the rules
around SEIS on its website.
Healthy returns
Reliefs should not be a reason to invest or to recommend
an investment. A much more compelling rationale are
the potential returns that are available. A recent report
illustrated the returns from seed investing showing
that while it may be high risk, a portfolio can still deliver
healthy returns.
The Enterprise Research Centre (ERC), in conjunction
with the UK Business Angels Association, published A
Nation of Angels, in January 2015 - research completed
through direct interviews with 403 business angels and
28 angel syndicates representing 8,000 angels. It found:
• 45% of angels reported that their investee businesses
showed ‘high growth’ while 64% had investments
showing ‘reasonable growth’.
• 60% of angels reported that they have experienced a
positive (full or partial) exit since their first investment.
• 79% of them said they would re-invest their gains
in further small business investment opportunities –
only 7% said they would not.
It found that angels reported a lower rate of low returns
and a higher rate of expected higher returns than in
previous research – showing confidence in the market
and the performance of their seed investments.
When asked about the growth status of their current
portfolio, angels reported that 19% of their investee
businesses showed ‘high growth’ while 34% of their
investments showed ‘reasonable growth’. (The authors
of the study did not define ‘high growth’ and ‘reasonable
growth’ but left them subjective.)
When asked about their expectations of their returns from
their portfolio of investments made since January 2012,
investors expected that 76% of their investments would
yield a positive return, of which 19% of their investments
would yield a six to 10 times return and 13% of their
investments would yield more than 10 times return.
Real growth stories
When have you ever heard someone discussing their
pension at a dinner party? Or explaining their ISA to
their grandkids? While many investment products can
struggle to capture the imagination, investing in early
stage businesses creates pride and a rich source of
stories. Following a business as it grows (the triumphs
and disasters) is part of the joy for investors. It is also a
valuable way for advisers to stay genuinely engaged with
their clients.
30 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Thought Leadership
Considerations for reducing risk &
increasing returns
There are several ways to make SEIS investments,
for example as an individual business angel or as
a consortium of angels; through crowdfunding or
through subscribing to a fund. Useful questions
when considering SEIS investments are:
• how can I construct a portfolio of several investments
across companies and sectors?
60%
60% of angels reported that they
have experienced a positive (full or
partial) exit since their first investment.
• how can I get access to many potential investments
then efficiently distil the best choices?
• how can the selection criteria increase the proportion
of successful businesses and reduce failures?
• how realistic are the valuations?
• how are the start-ups being helped to reduce risk,
accelerate growth and achieve maximum value?
At Worth Capital we have been investing in seed stage
start-ups well before the advent of SEIS. Our experience in
answering these questions has led us to a model which we
believe ‘stacks the odds’ of seed investing. We have created
the Start-Up Series - a competition format from which every
month we distil the brightest of the UKs entrepreneurs with
the smartest ideas. Our partners, Amersham Investment
Management, are fund managers for the Start-Up Series
SEIS Fund One which will invest in the winning businesses.
We’d love to explain more and share our passion for seed
investing. Please get in touch or visit our website -
www.worthcapital.co.uk
79%
79% of them said they would re-invest
their gains in further small business
investment opportunities – only 7%
said they would not.
Reliefs should not be a
reason to invest or to
recommend an investment.
A much more compelling
rationale are the potential
returns that are available
45%
64%
45% of angels reported that their
investee businesses showed ‘high
growth’ while 64% had investments
showing ‘reasonable growth’.
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
31

The market has continued
to grow in 2016 and we
believe it is now too big for
advisers to ignore, which
begs the question – is there
a place for intermediaries
to give advice and possibly
add value to client portfolios
via crowdfunding?
THE CROWDFUNDING
PHENOMENON: IS
IT ADVISABLE?
Crowdfunding is a fast-growing sector.
Julia Groves, Head of Crowdfunding
at Downing, believes advisers shouldn’t be
missing out
When Nesta published the UK Alternative Finance Industry
Report earlier this year, it detailed some impressive
statistics. During 2015, the crowdfunding market grew to
£3.2 billion in size, involving more people, projects and
businesses in funding and fundraising - the popularity of
joining ‘the crowd’ appeared infectious. The number of
funders in the UK reached 1.09 million with some 254,721
individuals, projects, not-for-profits and businesses raising
finance via online alternative finance platforms. The market
has continued to grow in 2016 and we believe it is now too
big for advisers to ignore, which begs the question – is
there a place for intermediaries to give advice and possibly
add value to client portfolios via crowdfunding?
Not all crowdfunding is the same
Crowdfunding typically finances projects or businesses
by raising contributions from direct investors via an online
platform. In return, investors can receive shares in a
company or earn interest. It is a very diverse market ranging
from equity-based crowdfunding, which is similar to angel
investing, all the way through to secured bonds, which are
possibly transferable and asset-backed. Much of the UK
crowdfunding market has now moved towards debt-based
crowdfunding, lending to more mature businesses with
established revenue streams; in 2015, the vast majority
of the UK market, 88% was debt free, and almost £1.49
billion was loaned to UK SMEs via peer-to–peer (P2P)
business lending.
As a long-standing supporter of UK businesses, a natural
progression for Downing has been to move into the
debt-based crowdfunding market. We launched our
32 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Thought Leadership
crowdfunding platform in March, offering bonds secured
on a business’ existing, operational assets. Over the six
months since March, we have launched a further six bonds.
We are delighted to have raised over £12 million to support
the growth of smaller UK businesses, predominantly in the
renewable energy space. To date the bonds issued have
offered between 5% and 7% returns over 1-2 year terms
and have attracted more than 700 investors.
Key considerations around
crowdfunding investment
There is no such thing as a ‘typical’ crowdfunding investor
given the scope of the sector and the variation in the
risks associated with each specific crowdfunding raise.
There is a world of difference between an investment
in an early stage business that has yet to prove it can
generate revenue (never mind profit) and an investment
in mature, established or asset-backed businesses. With
any fundraise, there are some key questions that need to
be answered:
Where is the money raised going – is it going to a person
or a company?
• How well established is the company, and what is the
risk associated with the actual end asset?
• What type of vehicle is being used – is it equity or a
bond, secured or unsecured, junior or senior debt?
• And what happens if things go wrong?
Finally, the platform it sits on and what that platform does
to protect investors needs to be explored. Whether they
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
33

are acting as security trustees or
agents needs to be established, along
with the level of due diligence that has
been carried out on the company.
For example, each bond on the
Downing Crowd platform goes
through Downing’s full due diligence
process, drawing on over 20 years of
investment management experience.
A full Offer Document is issued
for each fundraise, outlining the
risk and returns and independent
analysis is available through an
in:review report.
So, is crowdfunding advisable?
Despite the compelling attraction
of certain types of crowdfunding, it
has not traditionally been considered
advisable for a number of reasons,
not least because of scepticism of the
quality of the offers/valuations, issues
with regulation and permissions.
However, we are seeing an increasing
number of enquiries from advisers
interested in the opportunities for
their clients, which suggests the tide
is turning on how intermediaries
view of this area of the alternative
finance market.
We believe that the key challenges for
advisers are evaluating each client’s
overall portfolio and appetite for risk,
understanding the crowdfunding
opportunities available and the levels
of risk involved, and then assessing
whether the returns are sufficiently
acceptable for the level of risk taken.
Debt-based crowdfunding is
regulated by the FCA, which gives a
further layer of investor protection.
So as long as firms have the correct
permissions to advise on these
investments and advisers have the
appropriate qualifications (located to
the right), they are permitted to give
advice on these opportunities.
Can I advise on Crowd Bonds?
Does your firm hold FCA permissions for arranging
deals in investments OR making arrangements with a
view to transactions in investments?
Does your firm have the following permissions:
YES
Do you hold the right
qualification e.g/ Cil
Certificate in
Securities Advice
and Dealing?
YES
ADVISED
In this case, you can
recommend a bond
or selection of bonds
to your clients
YES
Advising on investments
Customer type: Retail
Investment type: Debenture
NO
NO
INTRODUCER ONLY
In this case, you can
introduce clients to
our platform but they
must select their
own bonds
34 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Thought Leadership
A valuable addition to a balanced portfolio
Severe fluctuations in financial markets following the
global financial crisis, and more recently following the
Brexit vote, have resulted in a low interest rate environment
that shows no sign of improving in the short term. This has
had a significant influence on how investors and providers
consider different investment solutions. Diversification
within a balanced portfolio is the holy grail for most
investors – so a valuable addition to their mainstream
holdings could be an investment in an unlisted, mature
company with established assets and cash flows. As such,
an uncorrelated portfolio might contain investments that
are unlisted and therefore not exposed directly to the
highs and lows of the stock market.
Legislation and widening parameters of the IFISA
and pension freedoms
The new Innovative Finance ISA (IFISA), introduced in April
this year, offers an opportunity for advisers to introduce
clients to the diversification benefits of crowdfunding.
Draft legislation on widening the parameters of the new
IFISA has been published revealing that, from November,
investors will be able to put some of their ISA allowance
into bonds and other debt securities made through P2P
and crowdfunding sites.
Another boost to this sector is expected to come from
SIPPs as more retirees take advantage of pension
freedoms. Additionally, new regulations capping high-networth
individuals’ pensions contributions will mean that
investors look for other vehicles to improve their returns
and manage their tax relief.
Investors’ ability to place this type of bond within these tax
wrappers may prove attractive to income hungry investors.
Conclusion
With interest rates at all-time lows, a number of clients
will be unhappy with the returns they’re getting from their
savings. As people seek better returns and companies
become more creative in how they raise money, we believe
the debt-based crowdfunding proposition should continue
to grow. Crowdfunding may give financial advisers an
opportunity to advise on a portion of their portfolio
that they don’t already. This may become increasingly
attractive when an investment is made through a SIPP or
ISA wrapper. Clients may not have the time or the ability to
differentiate between the myriad of crowd offers – advisers
have a valuable role to play in guiding their clients in this
new and innovative market.
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
35

36 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

INVESTMENT SPOTLIGHT

The Blackfinch Media Enterprise
Investment Schemes (EIS) and
Seed EIS (SEIS) offer investors
a variety of government backed
tax reliefs to help reduce their
tax burden.
Blackfinch provide investments that deliver
predictability and have a focus on capital
preservation balanced with growth. Our
EIS and SEIS portfolios continue this strategy,
to offer compelling investment opportunities
that combine a capital preservation focus
whilst also taking advantage of the valuable
tax reliefs available.
CALL 01684 571 255 OR
VISIT WWW.BLACKFINCH.COM

Investment Spotlight
A BIRD’S EYE VIEW OF
BLACKFINCH INVESTMENTS
Neil Martin talks to Blackfinch Investments’ Chief Executive Richard Cook about
EIS investment opportunities, education and that inevitable Brexit question
Those who know their natural history will know the
relevance of the black finch and why this particular EIS
specialist is so called: the black finch found fame after
Charles Darwin studied the bird and his findings became
the basis of his ‘survival of the fittest’ theory.
Malvern-based Blackfinch was conceptualised on the
birth date of Darwin and the firm is a keen believer of the
evolutionary theory that, according to Blackfinch Chief
Executive Richard Cook, reflects the company’s ability to
adapt to changes in the markets.
Blackfinch currently has two EIS portfolios available to
clients that benefit from asset-backing and solid income
streams, while targeting capital preservation and growth.
The Blackfinch Media EIS Portfolio focuses on music
publishing and television distribution. The music publishing
companies own music copyrights for a portfolio of music
scores for films and television programmes. The television
distribution companies sell the broadcast rights for
television programmes on behalf of producers and derive
income from the sale of those programmes to international
broadcasters who license those rights.
Second is the Blackfinch Asset Focused EIS Portfolio
which offers investors the opportunity to benefit from the
firm’s understanding of both residential and commercial
asset-backed construction. Blackfinch Asset Focused EIS
constructs residential housing in areas of high demand
across the UK along with commercial construction of
crematoriums, retirement villages, nursing homes and
student accommodation.
Educating clients
As to how advisers can educate their clients about the
investment opportunities in EIS, Cook said: “It is of primary
importance that the client is assured that any EIS chosen
has been given approval, known as advance assurance,
by HMRC. This ensures that the investee company shares
qualify for the tax reliefs available.
“Advisers should also educate clients to understand the
balance between the investment risk taken, the growth
opportunities, as well as the tax reliefs available. In addition,
the adviser should make the client aware of how those
risks are being mitigated by the provider of the EIS and
to ensure that the mitigation being undertaken is within
allowable parameters in accordance with HMRC rules.
“Advisers should encourage investment into EIS for
appropriate clients as part of a diversified portfolio
and be able to explain fully where the clients’ money is
being invested.”
Educating clients in difficult market conditions, such as
post-Brexit, can be a challenge but Cook is upbeat about
the prospects for EIS.
“We are optimistic that the current demand for EIS
will continue into the long-term. With the decrease in
EU subsidies there will be a requirement to continue
to support the growth and development of smaller
companies in the UK economy. It may very well be the case
that the tax incentives will become even more attractive to
encourage wider investment but we feel that there will be
more emphasis on EIS assets providing real growth and
development in order to support the UK economy.”
The ‘survival of the fittest’ theory is not the worst philosophy
for an EIS firm and Cook will no doubt be hoping his firm
will be part of the investment evolutionary process for
some time to come.
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
39

Maxine Peake stars in ‘Funny
Cow’ with Martin Freeman
David Tennant in Gizmo
Films’ ‘Mad To Be Normal’
GIZMO FILMS HAS BEEN MAKING FILMS SINCE 1997 AND NOW SPECIALISES IN
IDENTIFYING, FINANCING AND CO-PRODUCING THE VERY BEST OF UK INDEPENDENT
FEATURE FILMS.
We only select and work with projects that meet strict criteria for offering investor value and the prospect of good
returns:
› Well known and saleable cast, experienced producers and director
› Realistic budgets – we will only back films where the budget is significantly lower than the sales estimates
› Sales Agent attached and preferably distributor confirmed with a major international distribution company such
as Lions Gate and Entertainment One
› SEIS and EIS available
› UK tax credit qualifying – cutting production costs by 20%
› Equity investors positioned as high as possible in recoupment schedule
We aim to build long term relationships with investors and ensure full communication, strict financial compliance
and lower risks. We encourage direct investor involvement such as set visits, exclusive screenings and premiere
invites.
In 2016 we completed ‘Mad To Be Normal’ with David Tennant, Elisabeth Moss, Michael Gambon and Gabriel Byrne
and have a number of projects at different stages of production.
In Autumn 2016 we launched ‘Funny Cow’, starring Martin Freeman, Maxine Peake, Stephen Graham and Vic
Reeves a comedy drama set in the working men’s clubs cabaret circuit in the 1970s and 80s.
We always have a number of exciting projects open for both SEIS and EIS so get in touch for
more information email info@gizmofilms.com or visit our website www.gizmofilms.com

Investment Spotlight
ACTION! UK FILM AND EIS
WORKING TOGETHER
Neil Martin talks to Gizmo Film Productions about the reliance of the UK film
industry on SEIS and EIS and how it makes a difference to the economy
Gizmo Films Productions was founded in 1986 and is
an award winning UK-based film production company.
It produces a wide range of films, from biographical and
factual documentaries through to fiction.
Director Peter Dunphy joined in 2012, coming from
a corporate finance background where he managed
funding processes, and is responsible for finance, financial
management and investor relations at Gizmo.
Dunphy is keen to point out the contribution the film
industry makes to the UK economy.
“The industry employs thousands of people throughout
the UK – creating an engine for creative output for writers,
directors, camera crew, photographers and actors, but
also many thousands of make-up and costume specialists,
electricians, carpenters, caterers and drivers,” he said.
Dunphy added that successive governments have
recognised the importance of this industry in both the
economy and the cultural life of the nation, and that a
special ‘producer’s tax relief’ represents a rare government
subsidy to the industry, which is worth typically 20% of
production costs spent in the UK.
The UK independent film industry relies heavily on SEIS
and EIS funds, explained Dunphy. By their nature major
film projects are start-ups and most projects qualify
for SEIS and EIS, though there is a need for any special
purpose vehicle (SPV) companies established to develop
and produce films to demonstrate growth potential and a
good prospect of longevity.
However, an SPV ostensibly established to make
just one film before winding up will not now obtain
HMRC clearance.
When it comes to educating their clients about the SEIS and
EIS investment opportunities in film, Dunphy highlighted
the perks beyond investment potential.
“Investors are often keen to include within their portfolio a
stake in this fascinating and exciting industry. As an investor
you can watch filming on set, attend red carpet premieres
and maybe act as an extra. Few other EIS investments can
rival these for perks,” he said.
“But investors need to know that they are not making a
donation to a worthy creative industry – they also want to
avoid risk and maximise returns. Investment in any form of
media or any start-up is, of course, relatively high risk, but
that said examples where investors made massive gains
- Paranormal Activity and The King’s Speech - as well as
some well publicised complete flops, are unhelpful as they
are atypical.”
Film schemes are not immune to bad press and Dunphy
said “there have been attempts by a small number of
companies to promote or achieve ‘too good to believe’
returns for investors through opaque and complex
investment schemes”.
It is because of these few bad apples that Dunphy said
education about the role of EIS backing film is key.
“My first challenge is often to reassure investors that EIS
is not some wildly exotic tax avoidance scheme, but a
long established and HMRC-promoted scheme used
successfully by tens of thousands of businesses across
many industries,” he said.
“My experience in the staffing sector helps as my very
successful businesses in this sector were underpinned
by EIS. Investors should also look carefully at the financial
characteristics of every production and the track record of
the production team.”
When looking at film investment, advisers should
ensure they consider a number of key characteristics and at
Gizmo Films, they ensure projects pass a number of tests:
• will the film qualify for the UK tax credit?
• where do EIS equity investors sit in the
recoupment ‘waterfall’?
• is the production budget reasonable for a film with
this cast and genre?
• who is making the film?
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
41

Investment Spotlight
EIS AND THE PIVOTAL ROLE OF ADVICE
When it comes to being entrepreneurial, Paul Soanes, Co-founder of Worth Capital
has been there and got the t-shirt. He explains to Neil Martin the importance of EIS and
how clients are encouraging advisers to get on board
Worth Capital is a fund managed by Amersham Investment
Management that has a slightly different approach from
many other EIS specialists.
Co-founder of Worth Capital Paul Soanes said: “We have
two target sets of investors. One is sophisticated investors,
who are savvy on tax reliefs and the risks associated with
start-up capital, and secondly, advisers.
“We are a relatively new business and we think advisers
are pivotal to the long-term health and success of our
business. Mainly because we in the SEIS and EIS world are
slightly under-represented with advisers; there’s been low
hanging fruit in terms of investment opportunities over the
years, but now we’re in this lower interest rate environment,
and SEIS and EIS funds can offer a much better return on
investment potentially.”
He said there are a number of good EIS fund managers
already in operation who have launched a series of funds
over the past five years but “we feel that there is room for
innovation and that requires education on our part and the
advisers part”.
Soanes left university in 1994 and used his entrepreneurial
spirit to found iD, growing it into a top 10 UK experiential
marketing agency. From there he established Brandspace,
Europe’s largest promotional space media agency and
returned initial backers 17 times their original investment
within five years. As a highly experienced seed investor, he
has invested in over 25 businesses since 2008.
He believes that the fact the four founders of Worth are
successful entrepreneurs, who have made numerous SEIS
and EIS investments, makes a difference.
“It’s an edge. How much of an edge we don’t know at this
stage, but, effectively this is all about stock picking; you
pick the best investments, of which there are probably, in
the SEIS and EIS world, at any point in time, a couple of
thousand businesses and funds raising money.
“We run a series of competitions that gives us a trawl of
that overall market. It’s definitely an appeal that we’ve built
and sold businesses ourselves; we’ve gone through all that
pain, it does give you a bit of an edge in being able to spot
that kind of X-factor in an entrepreneur.”
Worth Capital invests purely in consumer businesses: the
products and services people buy and the way that they
buy them and Soanes believes EIS investment can help
diversify a client’s portfolio.
“Numbers from the EIS Association show that many
more advisers are suggesting alternative investments,”
he said. “This is hardly surprising given yields on savings
are at record lows and pensions are being squeezed. With
the generous tax reliefs available through SEIS and EIS
becoming better understood by clients, it will be the client
asking for them to be in consideration if not offered first by
the adviser.”
Soanes believes the role of the adviser is pivotal, and that
there are a number of ways they can educate their clients
about investment opportunities in EIS. He thinks the role
of the adviser is to educate clients on the landscape of
EIS and SEIS funds and secondly, to give them a broad
understanding of what investment classes are available;
from relatively steady EIS funds providing growth capital
to more established businesses, through to SEIS funds
investing in very young businesses.
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
43

Make It
Your
Business
Toil. Hard graft. Late nights.
The sign of a business that means
business. We’ve been doing just that
as we announce our transition from
Seed EIS Platform to GrowthInvest.
We are making it easier for Advisers
to become more active in the
tax efficient investments arena.
We have upgraded our unique
investment platform and added tools
which allow you to provide better
service to your clients. We will give
you the confidence and a compliant,
intuitive framework to extend your
business practices.
Our platform is set to be a
game-changer in the Alternative
Finance sector, which is itself
about to enjoy a bright new dawn.
Make it your business, before
others make it theirs.
Find out more at growthinvest.com

Investment Spotlight
SEED EIS PLATFORM BLOSSOMS
INTO GROWTHINVEST
Daniel Rodwell of Seed EIS explains to Neil Martin
why the platform is relaunching under a new name
Seed EIS Platform is relaunching as GrowthInvest as
it grows its offering to include a number of regulated
managed portfolios.
The platform, which was launched in 2012, provides
advisers and their clients with access to high-growth EIS
and SEIS single company deals. However, the platform
is increasing its product offering to include a number of
regulated managed portfolios.
Since the launch, the platform has facilitated 48
investment rounds into 41 different qualifying EIS
and SEIS companies.
Daniel Rodwell, Managing Director and Chairman of the
investment committee of Seed EIS Platform, said the
platform remains committed to the idea that EIS, VCT and
BPR portfolios provide essential capital to the SMEs that
are driving the UK economy.
“We’re changing the product and name, having listened
to the market, in anticipation of what’s going to be a busy
period for EIS and the general tax investment space,”
he said.
“Seed EIS was very descriptive in the early days, but rather
restrictive now because our offering now is very different.
We offer access to investment companies, EIS, inheritance
tax services, and focus on giving advisers access to the
entire tax space. Indeed, access to everything in the
unlisted environment going forward.”
The platform remains the only consolidated platform for
advisers in the tax efficient space, said Rodwell, with control
of all alternative investments under one adviser dashboard
and access to a wide range of single company offers.
It will now offer advisers and their clients access to a
number of unique SEIS, EIS and BPR deals and the ‘asset
transfer’ function on the platform enables advisers to bring
on board legacy client assets.
Rodwell said the platform can help drive entrepreneurial
investment in the post-Brexit economy, whether directly
into companies or through managed products, and that it
can provide advisers with the tools to access and manage
tax efficient investments for clients.
“We place the adviser at the heart of what we do, avoiding
disintermediation via direct-to-consumer offerings,
and educating unfamiliar advisers on the use and
appropriateness of tax efficient investment,” he said.
For GrowthInvest, adviser engagement comes in
many forms; including ongoing educational seminars,
both in-house and regional, and additional events in
collaboration with trusted industry and media partners. It
has also expanded its adviser-focused client services team
and regularly meets advisers at events. It has LGBR Capital,
experts in the adviser marketplace, as its distributors.
Rodwell is aware that to remain competitive, GrowthInvest
has to move ahead with innovative products and services,
mainly to meet the continual additional stream of new
investment opportunities.
Rodwell is confident of the future of EIS, but said there
needs to be a focus on a number of issues.
“There has to be a shift in perception of the scheme
from a tax-led product to an investment-led product, one
which co-invests. EIS should not just be seen as a way of
sheltering tax,” he said.
“There also has to be wider use of the product amongst
the adviser community due to pension restrictions, greater
due diligence and enhanced tools assisting advisers and
their clients. We’d also welcome a greater visibility on the
results of the scheme, the success stories and how these
have had a positive impact on the UK economy.”
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
45

Helping you support
your clients’ needs
At TIME, our mission is to deliver attractive investment solutions that bring peace of mind.
To do this we have established a professional culture that revolves around our clients, with
our teams going above and beyond to provide an exceptional experience. Our original
IHT service boasts a 21 year track record of successfully achieving IHT savings for our
investors and we now have solutions for both personal and corporate investment. We also
manage two innovative long income property funds, with our original fund continuing a
23 year run of delivering consistent, inflation beating returns and continuous liquidity.
About TIME
£550 million assets under management
50 staff and growing
Nationwide distribution team of 20
In house team of 16 investment specialists
EIS
IHT
TIME:EIS focuses on investing in
asset backed businesses which
offer suitable return profiles for
our investors. Our opportunity in
dry bulk shipping has successfully
raised and deployed capital for
tranche 1 and tranche 2 is now
open for investment.
TIME:Advance is a discretionary
management service that allows
investors to access BPR to mitigate
their IHT liabilities. Targeting 3.5%,
the focus is on investing in asset
backed businesses such as secured
lending, renewable energy
and self-storage.
If you would like to find out more about any of our
assets or investment solutions, please contact us on
020 7391 4747
questions@time-investments.com
time-investments.com
This notice is aimed at financial advisers only and is not intended for retail clients.
TIME Investments is a trading name of Alpha Real Property Investment Advisers LLP and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Investment Spotlight
ADVISERS: THE LIFEBLOOD OF EIS
TIME Investments Partner Simon Housden explains to Neil Martin
why advisers are so important to the business
TIME Investments doesn’t accept direct investments into
its funds, meaning that advisers are key to the success of
the business.
Simon Housden, Partner at TIME Investments and also
Sales and Marketing Director, said the fund manager is
never in competition with advisers.
“Advisers are our lifeblood; one thing that’s perhaps unique
about TIME is we only take advised business, we don’t take
business direct from clients, we’re never in competition like
that,” he said.
A team of 20 people at the company spend their time
talking to advisers, meeting them face-to-face, presenting
to them and their clients, all with the aim of up-skilling them
in terms of EIS.
For Housden, the key is rather than trying to constantly
enlarge their market share, is to help grow the overall size
of the market.
“The way to do that, is to provide education for advisers, to
make sure that they are really well informed about how EIS
works and what goes in the space,” he said. “So we spend
all our time presenting at events, conferences, seeing
advisory businesses face-to-face, just to make sure that
everyone is up to speed and do our bit to help them have
the confidence in the product.”
TIME is a part of the Alpha Real Capital group, a global
co-investing fund manager with over £1 billion of assets
under management.
TIME has a simple mission, to try and create transparent
investment opportunities that bring long-lasting peace of
mind to investors and their financial advisers by seeking
stable performance and consistent liquidity.
“Our teams regularly go above and beyond to create an
experience that we’re proud of. We don’t take any
unnecessary risks including the use of gearing and
are recognised for our exceptional customer service,”
said Housden.
Housden said that EIS is still a stable environment
post-Brexit.
“The only negatives are things like legislation risk. Also,
the problem we have is that you wait for every Budget and
see what’s announced, and you never quite know what
you’ve got to work with. There’s been a bit of a habit over
the years of tinkering with the rules which makes our life
more complicated.”
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
47

Investment Spotlight
INVESTING IN THE
NORTHERN POWERHOUSE
Ian Battersby talks to Neil Martin about how Seneca Partners is helping regional
companies get the funds they need
Politicians may endlessly debate the Northern Powerhouse
but Seneca Partners is already helping businesses in the
Midlands and the North get the investment they need.
Seneca was founded in 2010 and brought together a team
of finance professionals with extensive contact networks
and deal flow.
Ian Battersby, Business Development Director
at Seneca Partners, has a background in wealth
management and corporate banking, helped to co-found
the company and is now responsible for product and
strategy development as well as relationships with wealth
managers and institutions.
The relationships Seneca has built in a number of cities
around the country are pivotal to the company’s success.
“With a presence in Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and
Birmingham, we are well represented in the UK’s SME
heartlands,” said Battersby.
“The established, trusted and high-quality contact network
of the Seneca Partners team, which includes fellow
professionals, funders, investors and SMEs themselves,
is integral in our ability to source the most interesting and
compelling investment opportunities. The combination
of our network and our location ensures that our EIS
investment deal flow remains buoyant.”
Battersby said the company will complete around 20 EIS
investment deals per year and will also remain closely
involved in the development of the businesses.
“We also remain close to and advise on the strategic
development of our investee companies throughout the
investment period and on the options available to realise
each investment once the three year period has ended,”
he said.
Seneca is a prolific deal maker, with its EIS Portfolio Service
completing 11 deals totalling £13 million between January
and August 2016. The firm’s portfolio now contains over 28
companies funded across 45 investment rounds. A total of
13 of those investments are listed on the AIM market and a
number are approaching exit.
Crucially, the firm is not tied to the tax-year calendar, but
sees EIS investing as an on-going activity.
“We are all-year round investors, we are not really driven
by tax year-end, we look at each investment on its merits
and each investment thesis has to stand on its own two
feet. Ultimately, our belief is that this is about generating
good investment outcomes for clients, rather than timely
production of EIS certificates,” said Battersby.
“Ours is an evergreen discretionary service, so what that
really means is that we’re giving investors four to six
investments per tranche, per investment year. So in our
world the notion of clients subscribing in February and
March, and still expecting four to six investments before
the 5 April is really not happening.”
Battersby is confident that the SME sector will continue
to perform and is cautiously optimistic about the future of
Seneca’s investments in light of the EU referendum and
when Article 50 is triggered.
“We are confident that they will deliver against the target
return of £1.60 to £1.80 per £1 invested excluding any
benefits of tax reliefs. Our EIS exits to date have achieved
target including a partial exit for investors which returned a
10.8x multiple on 80% of their investment,” he said.
When it comes to Brexit, Battersby added that “we are
clearly mindful of the challenges ahead but we are ready to
tackle them as and when. For now, we have our heads down
keeping our deals in sharp focus and we are seeing plenty
of opportunities. That’s maybe the effect of the Northern
Powerhouse, but we stick to what we’re good at and stay
away from the things we don’t know anything about”.
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
49

mercia
fund management
Mercia’s Growth Fund is now OPEN
commercialising
tomorrow’s technologies
Providing tax efficient EIS & SEIS funds across
a range of technology sectors in which deep
expertise is held.
Find out more at www.merciafund.co.uk or call 0330 223 1430
A wholly-owned subsidiary of
mercia
technologies
Mercia Fund Management Limited, Forward House, 17 High Street, Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire, B95 5AA, is authorised and regulated by the Financial Cunduct Authority FRN:
524856 in the United Kingdom.

Investment Spotlight
THE INSIDE TRACK ON HIGH-TECH
EIS INVESTMENTS
Paul Mattick of Mercia Fund Management explains why having expert investment
directors is a must in high technology areas
Mercia Fund Management doesn’t just invest in companies,
it gets under the skin of them by recruiting people who are
specialists in a number of fields.
The company specialises in a broad range of high
technology sectors, from digital and digital entertainment
to software, life sciences and bio-sciences and through to
electronics, materials, manufacturing and engineering.
Former Olympic rower and entrepreneur Paul Mattick is
in charge of the company’s private fundraising team and
oversees the performance of the tax-efficient funds, as well
as managing the investor relations side of the business,
working with investors and a growing network of advisers.
Mattick said that key to Mercia’s success is recruiting the
right people from the industries the funds focus on.
“Mercia’s strategy is to recruit the top people from these
industries, all of whom will have a track record of building
and selling large companies, and who can leverage their
extensive personal networks to help drive the growth of
the portfolio,” he said.
“Investment directors of this calibre add considerable
strategic value to early stage businesses and can make
C-Level introductions (with high ranking executives), some
of which can be the biggest companies in their market.”
As to how EIS investments can help diversify client
portfolios, Mattick said: “The make-up of the portfolio is
not one which is typically associated with investing, and so
opens up exciting opportunities to support businesses at
the leading edge of new technologies. Investing in Mercia’s
Growth Funds therefore enables individuals to get close to
a diversified portfolio within rapidly growing sectors with
significant potential for high returns.”
Mercia runs a broad engagement policy with advisers,
helping them educate their clients about the investment
opportunities in EIS. In some cases, they provide CPDqualifying
events for networks, so that an adviser can fully
comprehend the complexities of EIS investments.
“EIS is not a simple area, but investing in a high performing
EIS funds with low fees and several notable exits can
provide significant value for an adviser’s clients. Advisers
who provide services of this type to their clients are offering
a premium service that provides added value in a crowded
market,” said Mattick.
Nor does Mattick believe that Brexit has affected their
portfolio companies significantly. Instead, he said, it is
more likely to impact on the low-cost service industries.
It is their belief that current EU legislation is unlikely to
change as the UK will aim to replicate similar legislation
following Brexit.
“The most important sectors – including the high
technology industries that EIS is designed to support
– remain the same. Any other areas will be sequentially
excluded by the government (as has been seen with solar
and other asset-backed investments) so that tax efficient
money is focused on areas that have the most impact on
UK GDP.”
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
51

Deepbridge is a different kind
of investment provider.
With over 200 years of combined experience of investing
in growing businesses; Deepbridge provides innovative
investment opportunities, including investments in
innovative technology companies, life sciences and
asset-backed renewable energy projects.
01244 746000
www.deepbridgecapital.com
Deepbridge House, Honeycomb East,
Chester Business Park, Chester, CH4 9QN
Deepbridge Advisers Limited is an appointed representative of Sapia Partners LLP (‘Sapia’), a firm
authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (the FCA), with FCA registration number
550103. Deepbridge Advisers Limited registered office is at 5th floor, 55 King Street, Manchester M2 4LQ.

Investment Spotlight
DISRUPTING THE EIS SECTOR
Ian Warwick of Deepbridge Capital is working with advisers to create innovative
products and tells Neil Martin about disrupting the industry
Deepbridge Capital has set out to be a different type
of investment manager, focusing on innovation and
designing products with advisers and investors in mind.
Ian Warwick, Chief Executive of Deepbridge Capital,
already had success as an entrepreneur and has led both
private and public companies, including the turnaround of
several businesses.
He wants to use his experience to help create new
investments in highly specialised areas.
“We work closely with financial advisers and investors to
design innovative products, ranging from investment in
technology growth companies to asset-backed renewable
energy projects,” he said.
“We also partner with innovative and committed
management teams to help UK based companies
realise their potential and become successful leadingedge
businesses.”
For Warwick, EIS is not a tax-focused product but a yearround
investment opportunity.
“We’re business builders; we drive business growth. Tax
relief is an added bonus,” he said.
Deepbridge specialises in investing across three primary
sectors: disruptive technology, life sciences, and renewable
energy. It believes that it is crucial that the investment
manager has suitable skillsets, sector expertise, and
industry experience to understand and navigate the
sector-specific routes to commercialisation and growth, to
unlock investor returns.
“The UK has a history of innovation stretching over
the last three hundred years, and retains its global
position at the forefront of technological innovation.
Such innovation requires private equity funding as well
as continued governmental support. In addition to
funding, entrepreneurs and innovators often also require
commercial experience to progress a great idea to
commercial viability,” he said.
“Both the technology and life sciences sectors are heavily
reliant on venture capital in order to undertake research,
development and commercialisation. The management
and practical support Deepbridge can provide investee
companies is also crucial to helping companies reach
their potential.”
For advisers, EIS investments are a great way to diversify
portfolios and Warwick said there is increasing demand for
alternative investments.
“As long as a client has an appropriate attitude to risk and
accepts the potential for capital loss, EIS investments can
form an integral part of a well-balanced and diversified
portfolio,” he said.
“With significant erosion of tax reliefs available for pension
savings, there is an increasing appetite amongst financial
advisers for other tax-efficient investment opportunities.”
He went on to say that with the EIS market maturing and
becoming increasingly transparent, advisers have never
been more empowered, had more product choice and
more information regarding EIS investment opportunities.
For suitable investors seeking a longer term investment,
EIS could be appealing as the investment risk is partly
mitigated by the tax reliefs available and the growth
potential of SME investments can often far exceed more
later-stage mainstream opportunities. Therefore, he said,
it is reasonable to suggest that EIS investing should be
considered as part of a well-diversified portfolio and a
wider financial plan.
Warwick also has clear views as to how advisers can
educate their clients about the investment opportunities
in EIS.
“Tax planning is a fundamental component of any financial
investment plan and consideration should be particularly
given to where the client has a specific income tax liability,
capital gain, or a potential IHT problem,” said Warwick.
“Where EIS investments may support a wider financial
plan, the financial adviser should consider suitability
and appropriateness of the advice beyond just whether
an EIS proposition is suitable from a tax planning
perspective. That is, advisers should also consider the
underlying investment and the appropriateness for the
individual client.”
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
53

Fund
Twenty8
SPREAD YOUR RISK
LARGE PORTFOLIO EIS FUND | MULTI-SECTOR EXPOSURE
MANAGE RISK BY DIVERSIFYING | INVESTOR-LED FUNDING
CLOSING DECEMBER 2016
twenty8@syndicateroom.com
This is only directed at professional investors and should not be relied upon by retail investors. The value of investments may go down
as well as up. Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (No. 613021). Registered office: 71 Regent Street,
Cambridge CB2 1AB.

Investment Spotlight
DIVERSIFICATION IS THE KEY
SyndicateRoom’s Gonçalo de Vasconcelos talks to Neil Martin about the innovative
multi-sector fund the company has developed
Equity crowdfunding platform SyndicateRoom has created
a multi-sector diversified fund to address two key issues in
the EIS fund space.
The launch of the Fund Twenty8 aims to tackle the single
sector exposure prevalent in the EIS space and a lack of a
diversified portfolios.
Gonçalo de Vasconcelos, Co-Founder of SyndicateRoom,
said the advantage of the fund is its commitment to
investing across sectors.
“The fund opens up to our investors the opportunity to
build a truly diversified portfolio, across more sectors and
more companies – a minimum of 28 – than traditional
funds, along with all the added incentive of EIS tax relief,”
he said.
“Our launching of the fund was prompted by research
from Intelligent Partnership and NESTA into early stage
angel investing, which found that a minimum portfolio
size of early stage businesses should consist of at least
28 companies – so as to most effectively spread risk
and maximise one’s chances of one investment’s return
outweighting the decline of others. Traditional EIS funds
generally only invest in between five and eight investments
per fund and usually focus on a single sector.”
The investment strategy is to provide an opportunity to
invest alongside lead investors and target growth capital in
companies that have certain key characteristics; including
being pre-profit and being able to demonstrate strong and
established management teams with proven business
credentials, aiming to generate an IRR of 20%, or more;
and, are EIS eligible at the time of investment.
Risk is mitigated by building a sector-agnostic diversified
portfolio across 28, or more, qualifying investments.
Providing an opportunity to invest in sophisticated
opportunities alongside experienced investors is key
to SyndicateRoom’s ethos, along with transparency
and fairness. Using the platform allows investors to put
their money into opportunities alongside UK Business
Angel of the Year Peter Cowley and ‘super angel’
Jonathan Milner.
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
55

Par Equity invests time and money in innovative young companies
with high growth potential. Our approach is hands-on, deploying
intellectual as well as financial capital.
We offer qualifying investors EIS and other alternative asset funds,
as well as a private client service.
To find out more, e-mail info@parequity.com
or call us on +44 (0)131 556 0044.
Investors in innovation
parequity.com
Par Fund Management Limited (FRN 485668) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Venture capital
investments carry risks as well as potential rewards and such investments are illiquid and exposed to the possibility of loss.
56 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Investment Spotlight
GROWING THROUGH TOUGH TIMES
Par Equity was born out of the financial crisis, but Partner Paul Munn tells Neil Martin
they are now leading the pack as one of the largest venture capital firms in Scotland
Starting a venture capital firm in 2008 might have seemed
like a brave decision, but it doesn’t appear to have harmed
Edinburgh-based Par Equity.
The four founding partners of the firm, Paul Atkinson,
Robert Higginson, Andrew Castell and Paul Munn, have
created a firm which likes to address the challenges of
investment in small, high growth potential companies.
The partners have differing backgrounds, but all have
experience in building, managing and exiting businesses
in a variety of industries as well as personal track records
as investors.
Munn said the firm’s Par Syndicate EIS Fund is unique in
the market as it utilises the experience of long-standing
angel investors.
“It leverages the experience and commitment of angel
investors in identifying and supporting investee companies
for the benefit of passive fund investors,” he said.
“The involvement of experienced investors is a key
ingredient in driving outperformance over the long term
and even more vital given the risk profile of the investing in
high growth companies.”
When searching for companies to invest in, Munn said
they look for businesses “that are doing things in new and
better ways”.
“This could be doing business more quickly, more
efficiently or in a new context,” he said. “Our investment
model harnesses the industry expertise, contacts and
experience of a highly motivated individual investor base,
drawn from successful entrepreneurs, managers and
professionals with directly relevant insights that can be
brought to bear at every stage.”
There are three key stages in the process: identifying
and evaluating potential investee companies; supporting
investee companies post-investment; and, assisting in the
exit process.
Munn said the firm has made a big impact over the last
eight years.
“The breadth of our investment portfolio embracing
hardware, textiles and med-tech as well as software has
shown that opportunities exist for EIS investors beyond
just the digital economy.”
As for engagement with advisers, Par Equity has seen them
become investors as well as introduce clients to the group.
“Par Equity has largely built its investor base directly
through its own network and by word of mouth. It has been
the case that IFAs and investment advisers have been
more likely to invest with us themselves than be a major
source of clients,” he said.
“That is, however, changing and we are actively engaging
with the adviser community based on our emerging track
record, differentiated product and their growing interest in
the EIS space.”
The future, said Munn, looks bright, especially as EIS,
as a distinct asset class, is returning to its purist roots of
supporting early stage risk based investing.
“Par Equity has always been a risk investor viewing the
tax benefits to be a sensible mechanism to address the
lack of capital available to innovative companies. As such
Par is supportive of the recent changes to the EIS rules to
discourage asset-backed, yield-driven products under the
EIS banner.
“As investors and their advisers become more familiar
with the asset class we believe it will grow significantly
as investors seek long-term income and value creating
investments and broaden their horizons from more
traditional financial products.”
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
57

ACQUISITION AND SALES
OF IFA
BUSINESSES
Retirement?
Time for a
change?
There are
countless reasons
to dispose of
an IFA business,
just as there are
countless reasons
to get hold
of one.
WE ARE A SPECIALIST FINANCIAL SALES, CONSULTANCY AND BROKERAGE BUSINESS.
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

ENHANCED PROFILES

KEY PERSONNEL
Shane Gallwey heads up Guinness Asset Management’s EIS and IHT investment
business. He has advised and invested in growth companies for seventeen years.
Initially he worked in corporate finance at HSBC Investment Bank, where he focused on
technology companies, and latterly at Northland Capital Partners with a focus
on tax-efficient funding.
Also key to the company are Fund Manager Edward Guinness and Investment Managers
Malcolm King and Chris Villiers, Analyst Hugo Vaux, and Lead Manager of AIM EIS
Andrew Martin Smith. Tim Guinness and Lord Flight sit on the investment committee.
COMPANY OVERVIEW
Guinness Asset Management is a London-based specialist fund management company with more than £800 million
under management. It was established in 2003, is independent and is focused purely on investment management.
The founder, Tim Guinness, had previously co-founded Guinness Flight Global Asset Management, which was sold
to Investec Bank in 1998. The company is wholly owned by employees and has developed a reputation for intelligent
screening and well-designed investment processes.
INVESTMENT STRATEGY
The Guinness EIS team has raised and invested over £60 million in EIS-qualifying companies since it commenced
investing in early 2011, and the team has made over 50 investments in that period. They have also exited their first
two EIS portfolios, returning in excess of £1.20 per £1.00 invested (not including £0.30 EIS income tax relief) on
both funds.
The investment management team is overseen by the investment committee, harnessing the considerable
investment expertise of Tim Guinness, Andrew Martin Smith and Lord Flight, Chairman of the EIS Association.
60 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Enhanced Profiles
USPs
• Reputation for intelligent screening and well-designed investment processes
• Proven track record with multiple successful exits
• £800 million assets under management, with over £60 million in EIS
KEY SERVICES AND FUNDS
Guinness has three tax-efficient investment services open for subscription.
• Guinness EIS - focused on identifying and investing in asset-backed companies to prioritise capital preservation.
The focus is on companies where the risks can be mitigated contractually, or by the realisable value of the assets of
the business.
• Guinness AIM EIS – an approved fund structure investing in new and secondary share issues of EIS qualifying
companies benefitting from AIM listings. All fees are deferred to maximise the amount on which investors can
claim EIS tax relief.
• Guinness Sustainable Infrastructure Service – invests in unquoted sustainable infrastructure businesses that
qualify for business property relief. The focus is on rooftop solar projects where Guinness have a large pipeline
of opportunities.
As well as its EIS and IHT offerings, Guinness Asset Management provides a range of actively managed, long-only
equity portfolios designed to deliver real returns for long-term investors.
Guinness Asset Management,
14 Queen Anne’s Gate, London, SW1H 9AA
Email: eis@guinnessfunds.com
Phone: 020 7222 3475
www.guinnessfunds.com
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
61

KEY PERSONNEL
Richard Cook, Chief Executive Officer, has been involved in the structuring and management of tax-efficient investment
assets for over 11 years.
Richard Simmonds, Chief Investment Officer, has over 12 years’ senior experience in financial services.
Guy Lavarack, Investment Director, has experience in the renewable energy and corporate finances sectors and is
responsible for sourcing and executing new deals.
COMPANY OVERVIEW
Blackfinch Investments is an established UK provider of tax-efficient investment solutions. Blackfinch’s origins go back
to 1992, giving it more than 24 years’ experience of trading in the UK and it now has in excess of £500 million of assets
under administration and management. Its philosophy is based on transparency and simplicity and its services provide
real solutions to real financial planning challenges faced by individuals today.
INVESTMENT STRATEGY
The Blackfinch EIS Portfolios allow investors to access the attractive tax benefits of EIS by investing into EIS qualifying
companies that provide a degree of capital preservation and risk mitigation. Each investee company will have received
advanced assurance from HMRC that they qualify for EIS relief before funds are deployed.
We are able to offer our investors a simple portfolio service that provides access to EIS companies enabling them to
benefit from this tax relief and growth opportunity. We use our experience and expertise to select companies with strong
management teams who access trading activities with an underlying element of comfort provided by asset security and
predictable revenue streams. All of this, combined, means that we are able to mitigate many of the risks which are
normally associated with companies offering this level of growth. Our EIS portfolios are a discretionary managed service
which means that we select the investee companies on behalf of the investor according to our investment mandate.
The Blackfinch Investment Committee maintains involvement throughout the investment process. The committee is
responsible for approving the investment into each of the underlying companies and for providing an oversight on the
ongoing performance of these companies. This ‘hands-on’ approach ensures that our portfolios consist of high quality,
strong companies that we believe will provide security and development for the future.
62 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Enhanced Profiles
USPs
• Over 20 years experience
• Shortlisted for the 2015 Growth Awards for Best BPR Provider
• Specialist knowledge and experience in specific areas
• Key support for intermediaries through product training, presentations, technical support, illustrations and case studies
KEY SERVICES AND FUNDS
Blackfinch is innovative and constantly alive to the needs of advisers and their clients. With this in
mind, Blackfinch have recently launched Blackfinch Asset Focused EIS which capitalise two small
construction companies which will construct building projects within the residential and private
commercial property markets.
Blackfinch also offer the Blackfinch Media EIS which invests in qualifying media companies that focus on
music publishing by creating and owning original music scores for films and television programmes and
television distribution that sells the broadcast rights for television programmes on behalf of producers.
Blackfinch Investments,
Blackfinch House, Chequers Close, Malvern,
Worcestershire, WR14 1GP
Email: enquiries@blackfinch.com
Phone: 01684 571 255
www.blackfinch.com
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
63

KEY PERSONNEL
Oliver Hughes
Partner
Infastructure
Investments
Tom Bradley
Partner
Growth
Investments
James Hipkiss
Director
Wealth Managers
& Advisers
Oliver Hughes, Partner, Infrastructure
Investments, spent more than 10 years in
Asia designing asset-back transaction
structures. In the UK infrastructure
market, Oliver has worked extensively
on the development and financing of
renewable energy and power
generating assets.
Tom Bradley, Partner, Growth
Investments, joined Oxford Capital in
2015, having previously been a partner at
DJF Esprit and latterly DN Capital. During
his career Tom has worked closely with
investee companies including Shazam,
LOVEFiLM, VouchedFor.co.uk,
Neteconomy and Mister Spex.
James Hipkiss, Director, Wealth
Managers & Advisers, joined Oxford
Capital in late 2014 after almost fourteen
years in investment banking with
Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and
latterly Berenberg.
COMPANY OVERVIEW
Oxford Capital is one of most experienced tax-efficient investment managers in the UK, having raised and invested
more than £300 million to date. We work in partnership with wealth managers and financial advisers, helping them
to make tax-efficient investments a crucial part of their business model.
We have two investment strategies, Infrastructure and Growth, accessible through a range of tax-efficient
investment structures.
INVESTMENT STRATEGY
Our Infrastructure strategy aims to generate predictable returns over the longer term. We invest in small-scale
power generation, which forms an important and growing part of the UK’s energy mix. This includes renewable
energy, reserve power and combined heat and gas assets. Clients invest through our Estate Planning Service. Our
infrastructure team also manages £200 million raised by the Oxford Capital Infrastructure EIS.
Our Growth investment team backs small businesses seeking to solve big scientific, technological or commercial
problems. Our current portfolio includes companies in sectors including games development, eCommerce, digital
healthcare and artificial intelligence. This strategy can be accessed through the Oxford Capital Growth EIS.
64 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Enhanced Profiles
USPs
• Two specialist investment teams offering access to different strategies and risk profiles
• Collaborative approach to working with advisers, helping them to integrate tax-efficient investments into their advice model
• Four-time winner of EIS Association’s Best EIS Fund Manager Award
• Strong focus on transparency and client service, including annual reporting events
• Founded in 1999, Oxford Capital was an early pioneer of EIS funds
KEY SERVICES AND FUNDS
Through the Oxford Capital Growth EIS investors acquire a portfolio of shares in eight to 12 small or medium-sized
British companies over a period of roughly 12 months. We work closely with our investee companies, with the aim
of accelerating their growth and achieving profitable exits. The Oxford Capital Growth EIS targets a return of 2.0x the
amount invested (not including the impact of EIS income tax relief), aiming to return the majority of proceeds four to
six years after initial investment.
Our Estate Planning Service (EPS) can help investors mitigate inheritance tax by investing in companies which
should qualify for business property relief. Clients can choose from a number of investment options, depending on
their preference for capital growth or dividend income. Target returns range from 3% to 5% per annum, and capital
can be accessed within one to six months through the sale of shares. The EPS currently invests primarily in
renewable energy assets, but other assets are likely to be added to the portfolio in future.
Oxford Capital, 201 Cumnor Hill, Oxford, OX2 9PJ
4th Floor, One Chapel Place, London W1G 0BG
Phone: 01865 860760
www.oxcp.com
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
65

KEY PERSONNEL
James Sore
Chief Investment
Officer
Gonçalo de
Vasconcelos
Chief Executive
Officer &
co-founder
Tom Britton
Chief Technology
Officer &
co-founder
James Sore, Chief Investment Officer:
James started his career at a boutique
investment firm, originally as investment
analyst and quickly moving to investment
manager. He’s also built up his own
private investment portfolio, while
starting and selling companies. James is
also a mechanical and electronics
engineer with experience designing and
developing products for world-leading
brands such as Coca-Cola, Hershey’s,
Pfizer and British American Tobacco.
Gonçalo de Vasconcelos, Chief Executive
Officer and co-founder: Gonçalo
pioneered the investor-led crowdfunding
model in the UK. In September 2011 he
graduated with an MBA from Judge
Business School, University of
Cambridge, where he was awarded the
Best Dissertation Prize and the Benavitch
Scholarship for academic and
professional achievements. Gonçalo is
also a contributor for Forbes, writing and
speaking about regularly about equity
investment, business angel investment
and venture capital investment.
Tom Britton, Chief Technology Officer and
co-founder: born in Los Angeles, Tom
originally moved to the UK to play
football. He went on to work in product
development on a number of
software-based projects, including
managing the development of the mobile
applications for Trainline. He completed
his MBA at Cambridge, where he focused
on developing startups, and has taken a
keen interest in ventures focused on
helping other startups.
COMPANY OVERVIEW
SyndicateRoom is an equity crowdfunding platform, encouraging transparency, fairness and access for all. By allowing
members to co-invest alongside experienced investors in highly sophisticated opportunities, they get access to the same
economic terms as the lead investors. This applies to opportunities across the entire funding journey, from early stage
private companies to premium segment listings on the main market of the London Stock Exchange.
Lead investors and advisers include UK Business Angel of the Year Peter Cowley and super-angel Jonathan Milner.
SyndicateRoom is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is a member of the
London Stock Exchange.
66 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Enhanced Profiles
INVESTMENT STRATEGY
• Investing alongside lead investors
• Targeting growth capital in companies that are:
- Ideally in revenue, which can provide shorter times to exit
- Usually pre-profit
- Able to demonstrate strong and established management teams with proven business credentials
- Aiming to generate an IRR of 20% or more
- EIS eligible at the time of investment
• Mitigating risk by building a sector-agnostic and diversified portfolio across 28 or more qualifying investments, for Fund Twenty8
KEY SERVICES AND FUNDS
Fund Twenty8 is the industry’s first multi-sector and diversified EIS fund. This addresses those two key issues we see in the EIS
fund space, single sector exposure risk (most funds are only single sector) and a lack of a diversified portfolio.
The advantage here is that the fund opens up to our investors the opportunity to build a truly diversified portfolio, across more
sectors and more companies – a minimum of 28 – than traditional funds, along with all the added incentive of EIS tax relief.
Our launching of the fund was prompted by research from Intelligent Partnership and NESTA into early stage angel investing,
which found that a minimum portfolio size of early stage businesses should consist of at least 28 companies – so as to most
effectively spread risk and maximise one’s chances that one investment’s return will outweigh the decline of others. Traditional
EIS funds generally only invest in between five and eight investments per fund and usually focus on a single sector.
SyndicateRoom,
71 Regent Street, Cambridge, CB2 1AB
Email: contactus@syndicateroom.com
Phone: 01223 478 558
Twitter: @SyndicateRoom www.syndicateroom.com
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
67

KEY PERSONNEL
Dr Paul Mattick, Head of Sales and Investor Relations; Paul has a wealth of experience in investor relations,
having formerly worked as Private Client Manager at Oxford Capital, where he managed more than 250 client
relations. Paul is also an entrepreneur and business-builder, having been the Founder and Sales Director of a
small, profitable imports company.
COMPANY OVERVIEW
Mercia Fund Management has more than £59 million assets under management. It specialises in the
operation of tax efficient EIS & SEIS investment funds.
It is wholly owned by Mercia Technologies, a national investment group focused on building businesses from
the UK regions to deliver returns from its shareholders. From seed through to exit, Mercia is in the compelling
position of being able, with limited competition, to use a full range of capital - third party funds and its own
balance sheet - to provide a ‘complete capital solution’ to build valuable businesses with truly global potential.
INVESTMENT STRATEGY
Mercia has a strong emphasis on the capital-underserved regions of the Midlands, the North of England and Scotland,
where local presence provides a material pricing advantage, as well as the relevant on-the-ground knowledge to identify
the most exciting and innovative businesses.
Mercia manages its portfolio through a highly experienced board and investment team. This includes Chief Executive Dr
Mark Payton and Chair Susan Searle. This expertise is then combined with industry-specific and venture-specific skills
via an investment business which has a track record of 11 IPOs and over 60 employees, including a dedicated university
technology transfer team.
Mercia’s Growth Funds are a unique hybrid of SEIS/EIS investments, blended into an early stage, technology-focused
fund. Around 30% of Mercia’s deal flow is sourced from its 18 university partner network, one of the largest in the UK,
which provides an enviable source of deal flow.
The most promising businesses from Mercia’s managed funds, the ‘emerging stars’, then go on to receive larger
amounts of funding via Mercia Technologies’ balance sheet as they look to scale and exit.
68 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Enhanced Profiles
USPs
• A ‘complete capital solution’ offering a single investment partner to high growth technology businesses
• Below industry average management and initial fees
• An easy-to-use online portal providing access to key documentation and a dashboard displaying the fund’s performance
• An award-winning Share Exchange, potentially offering investors the chance to sell shares in an otherwise illiquid investment
• An experienced team of business builders and investment professionals, many of whom have held senior-level positions at
both national and global businesses
• A dedicated investor relations team with ample experience of SEIS & EIS
• An independent investment panel and advisory committee providing guidance on the implementation of
Mercia’s investment strategy
KEY SERVICES AND FUNDS
Mercia offers access to SEIS/EIS funds investing into small, highly scalable technology businesses. In some cases, these funds can
be targeted to particular industries. Mercia has previously launched a fund dedicated to investing in digital businesses, as well as a
University Growth Fund. It also manages an institutional evergreen fund that invests exclusively into university spinouts.
Additionally, Mercia offers a host of services to provide investors and their nominated advisers with transparent communication.
Central to this is Mercia’s award-winning Investor Centre.
The Investor Centre is a secure online portal that provides instant access to portfolio breakdown illustrations, fund documentation,
digital copies of EIS and SEIS tax certificates, and portfolio company investment papers. The centre also operates a section
dedicated to advisers and intermediaries, which offers access to all invested clients, alongside full portfolio reports.
Within the Investor Centre, an investor also has access to the Share Exchange, an easy-to-navigate platform that offers the potential
for an investor to sell shares whenever an offer is made available by Mercia Technologies, thus potentially providing a degree of
liquidity for an otherwise illiquid investment. The Share Exchange was named ‘Industry Game-Changer’ at the Growth Investor
Awards in 2015.
Mercia Fund Management,
Forward House, 17 High Street, Henley-in-Arden,
Warwickshire, B95 5AA
Email: enquiries@merciafund.co.uk
Phone: 0330 223 1430
www.merciafund.co.uk
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
69

KEY PERSONNEL
Our client relationship team is led by Matthew Bugden, Ingenious Board Director and Head of Distribution, who is
responsible for ensuring that our clients and their advisers are well looked after throughout the investment process.
Matthew leads the company’s capital raising activities with a focus on the development of new client relationships and
alternative sources of capital.
During his 16 year Ingenious career, Matthew has supported advisers through the evolution of the EIS and Business
Relief retail market and how these and alternative investments can fit with holistic financial planning. To this end he
has successfully built and continues to manage a 30-strong team of experienced and highly respected client
relationship professionals, serving the requirements of the thousands of wealth advisers with whom Ingenious
has relationships. The national support, seminars, client meetings, in-house training, workshops and one-to-one
sessions, are all examples of our dedication to equipping advisers with the tools they need to deliver outstanding
outcomes for their clients.
COMPANY OVERVIEW
For more than 18 years, investors have chosen Ingenious to manage their funds. In that time, we have raised and
deployed over £9 billion across our chosen sectors including in excess of £880 million in EIS qualifying investments and
over £1.1 billion in business relief qualifying investments.
INVESTMENT STRATEGY
Ingenious creates value for its clients by identifying, funding and managing compelling investment opportunities. Our
philosophy is clear: we help investors find simple solutions to complex problems, while managing their money
conservatively. The conviction we have in our approach means we invest our own capital alongside that of our investors.
Investors benefit from risk mitigation through diversification, investing in multiple companies engaging in the production
of a broad slate of commercial projects.
Our investment committees, made up of senior executives across the firm, ensure each investment decision is subject
to rigorous research. This helps to ensure that we deliver to our clients’ expectations by bringing value to portfolios
through selecting diversified opportunities which seek to preserve wealth while targeting asset growth.
70 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Enhanced Profiles
USPs
• Sector expertise: we are one of the largest independent investors in the UK’s creative economy with
long standing media expertise. In the last five years we’ve diversified into the infrastructure and real
estate sectors.
• Multi-disciplinary team: our dedicated teams of lawyers, compliance and technical specialists work closely
with our in-house fund managers to ensure exceptional execution capability.
• AIFMD: we are one of few EIS providers in the industry to be approved by the Financial Conduct Authority
(FCA) as a full-scope manager under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers' Directive (AIFMD), giving our
investors the reassurance of additional governance.
KEY SERVICES AND FUNDS
Ingenious currently has four open EIS opportunities across our media and infrastructure sectors. The range
is designed to deliver maximum value to investors. In sourcing new opportunities, we seek out reliable and
reputable partners with whom we can collaborate, while simultaneously contributing to the wider economy.
The Ingenious Group,
15 Golden Square, London, W1F 9JG
Email: hello@theingeniousgroup.co.uk
Phone: 020 7319 4291
www.theingeniousgroup.co.uk
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
71

KEY PERSONNEL
Ian Warwick, Managing Partner: Prior to forming Deepbridge, Ian spent the previous 15 years leading publicly
listed technology businesses in the UK and USA, focusing on business structure, capital information,
transformation and growth.
Professor Chris Wood, Partner: Chris has over two decades of experience in the biotechnology sector,
having founded, managed and successfully exited two biotechnology companies; Bioenvision Inc. and
Medirace Limited.
Professor Nagy Habib, Partnership Board Member: Nagy is Professor of Hepatobiliary Surgery at Imperial
College London, with principal research activities focusing on the improvement of surgical technologies.
Dr. Robert S Bauer, Partnership Board Member: Robert has over 30 years’ experience of turning innovative
technologies into strategic advantages.
Sir Richard Sykes, Supervisory Investment Committee Chairman: Sir Richard is the Chairman of Council of
The Royal British Institution of Great Britain and Chairman of the UK Stem Cell Foundation.
Kieran O’Gorman, Technical Partner: Kieran has an in-depth knowledge of the private capital markets,
involving capital raising, investor relations and communication and is responsible for fund-raising activities
at Deepbridge.
Dr Savvas Neophytou: Prior to Deepbridge, Savvas enjoyed a 15 year career in the City, working as an
investment banker and ECM at JP Morgan, Bear Stearns, Shore Capital, Cantor Fitzgerald and
Panmure Gordon.
Rick Parry, Partner: Rick is an adviser to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, former CEO of the FA Premier League,
and former CEO of Liverpool Football Club.
COMPANY OVERVIEW
Deepbridge is a different kind of investment manager. Its experienced team of business-builders works
closely with financial advisers and investors to design innovative products, ranging from investment in technology
growth companies to asset backed renewable energy projects. Deepbridge partners with innovative
and committed management teams to help UK based companies realise their potential and become successful
leading-edge businesses. Deepbridge operates across four principle divisions: disruptive technology,
sustainable technologies, life sciences and renewable energy.
72 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Enhanced Profiles
USPs
• Hands-on management style with investee companies – ensuring companies are managed appropriately and in
investors’ interests
• Considerable sector experience within the areas we invest; technology, life sciences and renewable energy
• Independent governance and oversight
• No fees to the investor, ensuring maximum share allocation and 100% of investment is eligible for any potential
tax benefits
• A proven track record of successfully generating significant returns for investors; particularly in the technology and life
sciences markets
• Transparent approach – investors are provided with half yearly reports on all of their underlying investee companies.
Not just a financial statement but a real report on activity, progress and challenges
• All investors can be advised in advance as to exactly which companies their money will be invested
• Investee companies are only selected if they meet stringent criteria and the Deepbridge team can add additional
support other than just money
KEY SERVICES AND FUNDS
Deepbridge Technology Growth EIS: an opportunity to participate in a portfolio of actively-managed high-growth companies that
employ technological solutions, taking advantage of the potential tax benefits available under EIS.
Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS: an opportunity to secure potentially attractive returns by investing in a diversified portfolio of
early-stage life science companies, whilst taking advantage of the considerable income tax, capital gains tax, and inheritance tax
benefits available under SEIS.
Deepbridge IHT Service: an opportunity for investors to obtain relief from inheritance tax after only two years, the Deepbridge IHT
Service invests in Business Relief qualifying companies that invest in renewable energy generation assets, where capital
preservation is key.
There are no management charges levied on the investor, resulting in up to 100% allocation of the subscription. This ensures up to
100% tax efficiency for investors. Deepbridge fees are paid by the investee companies.
Deepbridge Capital,
Deepbridge House, Honeycomb East, Chester
Business Park, Chester, H4 9QN
Phone: 01244 746000
www.deepbridgecapital.com
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
73

74 EIS Magazine · Yearbook 2016/17
DIRECTORY

Directory
ACCELERIS CAPITAL
Norman Molyneux • 0161 850 0170
www.acceleris.com
normanmolyneux@acceleris.com
ALBION VENTURES LLP
Patrick Reeve • 020 7601 1850
www.albion-ventures.com
preeve@albion-ventures.co.uk
AMADEUS CAPITAL PARTNERS LTD
Amerlia Armour • 01223 707 023
www.amadeuscapital.com
aarmour@amadeuscapital.com
ARMSTRONG ENERGY
Alan Yazdabadi • 020 7749 2400
www.armstrongenergy.com
patricia.e.reynolds@artcapman.com
ARTERIAL CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LTD
Patricia Reynolds • 020 7129 1145
www.rtcapman.com
patricia.e.reynolds@artcapman.com
ARTESIAN GROUP
Duncan MacDonald • 020 7350 3000
www.artesian.co.uk
duncanmacdonald@artesian.co.uk
AMATI GLOBAL INVESTORS
www.amatiglobal.com
Rachel Le Derf • 0131 503 9104
rachel.lederf@amatiglobal.com
Amati AIM IHT Portfolio Service
Designed to work in association with financial advisers, the Amati AIM IHT Portfolio Service is a discretionary
investment management service.
The investment team at Amati have over 50 years of combined experience in UK smaller companies, and an
award winning investment management track record, in particular expertise in UK smaller companies and AIMquoted
stocks.
Holdings will be based on a model portfolio made up of profitable companies which fit into one of four categories:
owner-managed; family businesses with well-built brands; established technology companies; and special
situations with attractive yields.
Amati works closely with financial advisers, who will assess the Service and consider whether the solution offered
by the Service is suitable as part of each client’s overall investment strategy.
Charges
Annual management fee of 1% plus VAT on portfolio value, no initial/exit or dealing charges.
Key Features
• Minimum investment £15,000
• Shares held on client’s account, not as part of a collective investment scheme
• Standardised portfolio, based on Amati’s Model Portfolio template
• Can be held as an ISA
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
75

BERINGEA LLP
Oliver Ashton • 020 7845 7820
www.beringea.co.uk
oashton@beringea.co.uk
BOUDICA FILMS
Rebecca Long • 07947 867 171
www.boudicafilms.co.uk
rebecca@boudicafilms.co.uk
CALCULUS CAPITAL
Madeleine Ingram • 020 7493 4940
www.calculuscapital.com
madeleine@calculuscapital.com
Calculus Capital is a pioneer in the tax efficient space, having created the UK’s first approved EIS Fund in 1999,
and launched multiple share issues in our VCTs. Our 17+ invaluable years of investing experience underpin our
reputation as a successful supporter of small UK businesses. Our multi award winning funds have a strong
focus on capital appreciation, a diligent investment and monitoring process, and a record of profitable exits.
Our investment strategy focuses on established companies, with strong management teams and impressive
growth potential - across a diverse range of sectors.
The Calculus VCT is open until October 21st, the next close for the Calculus EIS Fund is October 28th, with
subsequent closes in January and April.
CHELVERTON ASSET MANAGEMENT
David Horner • 01225 483 030
www.chelvertonam.com
cam@chelvertonam.com
CHF ENTERPRISES
Nicola Johnstone • 07867 781 815
www.chfenterprises.co.uk
nicolajohnstone@chfmedia.com
COCOON WEALTH LLP
Tim Levy • 020 7478 2800
www.cocoonwealth.com
tim.levy@cocoonwealth.com
COMPARE INVESTMENTS DOT GURU
David Newman • 020 7993 5307
www.compareinvestments.guru
admin@compareinvestments.guru
Set up in February 2015 by industry professionals, Compare Investments Dot Guru (CIDG) formulated a
comprehensive strategy to become the only source for impartial and trusted financial product comparison.
CIDG already reports on and compares, most of the readily available Alternative Investment products today.
Furthermore, it does this without payment from any product provider, promoter, fund, broking house or
investment house, making the comparisons and reporting unique, objective and uncompromised. The
SEIS, EIS, VCT & BPR reports together with comparison information are available now online - via an annual
subscription of £299 Including VAT.
76 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Directory
DAEDALUS PARTNERS LLP
Gavin Harrison • 020 37 81 7375
www.daedalus-partners.com
gavin.harrison@daedalus-partners.com
DRAPER ESPRIT EIS, MANAGED BY ENCOR
Richard Marsh • 020 7931 8800
www.draperesprit.com
eis@draperesprit.com
EDGE INVESTMENTS
David Glick • 020 7317 1300
www.edge.uk.com
info@edge.uk.com
ELDERSTREET INVESTMENTS
William Horlick • 020 7831 5088
www.elderstreet.com
william@elderstreet.com
ENDEAVOUR VENTURES LIMITED
Bill Cunningham • 020 7927 7462
www.endven.com
bill@endven.com
FORESIGHT GROUP LLC
Gary Fraser • 020 3667 8100
www.foresightgroup.eu
gfraser@foresight.eu
FUNDAMENTAL ASSET MANAGEMENT
Chris Boxall • 01923 713 890
www.fundamentalasset.com
cboxall@fundamentalasset.com
Fundamental Asset Management is an independent, owner managed, investment management firm with
an unrivalled knowledge of the AIM market. It has successfully provided AIM portfolio management with
inheritance tax planning to private investors, trusts and institutions since 2004. Fundamental has extensive
experience in investing in AIM and has delivered outstanding returns to clients since inception. We conduct
in-depth, in-house research, visiting and meeting senior management of hundreds of companies each year.
As well as being available on its own broker platform the Fundamental AIM IHT Portfolio service can also be
accessed through the AXA Elevate, Nucleus and Transact platforms.
GIZMO FILMS
Peter Dunphy • 07966 531 863
www.gizmofilms.com
p.dunphy@gizmofilms.com
GREAT POINT MEDIA LTD
Jim Reeve • 020 3873 0020
www.greatpointmedia.com
jreeve@greatpointmedia.com
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
77

GROWTHDECK
Richard Lewis • 0800 302 9444
www.growthdeck.com
richard.lewis@growthdeck.com
GROWTHINVEST
Daniel Rodwell • 020 7071 3945
www.growthinvest.com
growthinvest@lgbrtax.com
GrowthInvest is a unique, independent platform which provides 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 in a position to benefit from the higher
returns and (government sponsored) tax efficiency. The purpose-built technology allows clients to consolidate,
control and enhance their investment portfolio within a single, secure online portal.
Originally founded by financial advisers in 2012 as SeedEIS Platform, the company rebranded as GrowthInvest
in October 2016 in order to better reflect the launch of a new platform, a wider range of products and services
available, and as a precursor to the launch of a GrowthInvest branded EIS Portfolio fund in Autumn 2016.
GOLDCREST FILMS
Mike Georgiou • 020 7437 7972
www.goldcrestfilms.com
receptionpost@goldcrestfilms.com
HARCOURT CAPITAL
Emma Edelson • 020 3178 3341
www.harcourtcapital.co.uk
emma.edelson@harcourtcapital.co.uk
IF MACKINNON & CO LLP
Iain Mackinnon • 01983 282 925
www.ifmackinnon.co.uk
iain.mackinnon@ifmackinnon.co.uk
INNVOTEC
John Marsden • 020 7630 6990
www.innvotec.co.uk
jmarsden@innvotec.co.uk
JENSON SOLUTIONS
Paul Jenson • 020 7788 7539
www.jensonsolutions.com
pjenson@jensonsolutions.com
We are pleased to follow-up our first three funds with a combined SEIS and EIS Fund (‘Fund 4’). Our offering
allows investors to choose whether they want to invest solely via SEIS or EIS or to split their funds across SEIS
and EIS investments to provide increased diversification. The Fund aims to target exciting new innovative
and disruptive technologies to be nurtured alongside existing investment opportunities that require followon
investment to fully exploit commercialization of a proven business model. At Jenson we aim to offer
these businesses far more than just funding, allocating a Jenson Finance Director, we have actively advised
entrepreneurs to re-evaluate business models, reduced projected costs and introduced potential executives,
partners, customers and suppliers as part of the value added service we provide. Further we believe the addition
of an experienced finance director to the management team of investee companies, even on a part-time basis,
will enhance returns, which is a key differentiation between ourselves and other SEIS and EIS providers
78 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Directory
JOULE ASSETS EUROPE
Jessica Stromback • 00 32 0485 294 030
www.eu.jouleassets.com
jstromback@jouleassets.com
MARIANA INVESTMENTS
Josh Knight • 020 7065 6699
www.marianainvestments.com
josh.knight@marianainvestments.com
MERCER & HOLE
Cathy Corns • 01908 605 552
www.mercerhole.co.uk
MOUNTAIN CONSULTING
Tony Davis • 07973 379 611
www.mountainconsulting.co.uk
tony@mountainconsulting.co.uk
MMC VENTURES LTD
Anna Slemmings • 020 7938 2200
www.mmcventures.com
anna.slemmings@mmcventures.com
Founded in 2000, MMC Ventures is one of the UK’s most active and experienced EIS fund managers. MMC
has invested in more than 50 companies and focuses on technology-enabled sectors where the UK is a world
leader – particularly financial and business services, business software, digital media and consumer internet.
MMC’s fundamental approach is to invest on the commercial merits of each transaction, viewing the EIS tax
benefits as highly desirable but not the reason to invest. As such the MMC EIS Fund offers investors exposure
to a portfolio of hard-to-access fast growing private companies, combining real capital upside potential with
generous EIS tax reliefs.
MILLS & REEVE LLP
Zickie Lim • 01223 222 482
www.mills-reeve.com
zickie.lim@mills-reeve.com
MOTION PICTURE CAPITAL
Nigel Jealous • 020 7025 8195
www.motionpicturecapital.com
nigel@motionpictures.com
OAKFIELD CAPITAL PARTNERS LLP
Brett Hochfeld • 020 7084 7274
www.oakfieldcapital.co.uk
brett@oakfieldcapital.co.uk
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
79

OXFORD TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT
Lucius Cary • 01865 784 466
www.oxfordtechnology.com
lucius@oxfordtechnology.com
Oxford Technology Management was founded in 1983 and specialises in making high-risk, high-reward
investments in technology start-ups. Our investment team are all scientists or engineers by background, and
understanding the technology is the starting point for any investment that we make. Our latest fund is OT(S)
EIS, a combined SEIS and EIS fund which made its first investment in 2012, and has since made 50 investments
in 23 companies. There have been two failures, but the losses on these are only £33,000.
Several investments have gone well and the gains on these (on paper only so far) are £3.3 million, almost 100x
the losses.
PARK ADVISORS
Alastair Kilgour • 020 7759 2290
www.parkadvisors.com
akilgour@parkadvisors.com
PRESTIGE FUNDS
Craig Reeve • 020 3178 4055
www.prestigefunds.com
creeve@prestigefunds.com
PUMA INVESTMENTS
Sam McArthur • 020 7647 8128
www.pumainvestments.co.uk
sam.mcarthur@pumainvestments.co.uk
RATHBONE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
Ivan Teare • 0151 236 6666
www.rathbones.com
ivan.teare@rathbones.com
ROCKFIRE CAPITAL
Liam Kavanagh • 020 3174 2508
www.rockfirecapital.com
liam.kavanagh@rockfirecapital.com
ROCKPOOL INVESTMENTS LLP
Matt Taylor • 020 7015 2150
www.rockpool.uk.com
mtaylor@rockpool.uk.com
With Rockpool, advisers can shape an EIS investment programme to suit their clients’ needs. This is particularly
helpful when rapid deployment is key, for example to meet a CGT deadline or to enable carry-back. Transparency
is vital, so we provide quarterly reporting on every company, plus always-on access to full portfolio information,
up to date valuations and EIS3 certificates. Our EIS Managed Portfolio Service provides a simple route to
these benefits. Alternatively, clients can be introduced to the Rockpool platform, where they select companies
directly, whilst enabling a trusted adviser to monitor their portfolio.
80 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Directory
SENECA
Jack Rose, LGBR Capital • 020 7071 3926
www.lgbrcapital.com
seneca@lgbrtax.com
The Seneca EIS Portfolio Service is an evergreen discretionary management service that offers investors the
opportunity to build a portfolio of equity investments in UK based SMEs, which are seeking an injection of
capital to fund their next phase of growth.
The Service gives investors a portfolio of 4-6 investments per year diversified by sector. It targets investment
returns of £1.60 to £1.80 per £1 invested (excluding tax reliefs). The EIS Service totals over £34 million and has
completed 45 investment rounds across 28 companies. 13 companies in the portfolio service are already AIM
listed providing liquidity, market pricing and exit visibility for investors.
The Portfolio Manager, Seneca Partners, is part of the wider Seneca business, which has c. £450 million
invested assets and over £4 billion debt under advice.
The knowledge, experience and pedigree of Seneca’s investment team, combined with their individual track
records of successful investing in the SME sector, is complimented by an extensive deal flow network in the
UK’s SME heartlands of northern England and the West Midlands.
SOPHROSYNE VENTURES
Gary Jackson •
www.sophrosynventures.com
gary@sophrosynventures.com
SOVEREIGN
Martin Keatman • 020 7268 2477
www.sovereign-group.com
martin@sovereign-group.com
ST JAMES’ PLACE WEALTH MANAGEMENT
Tony Mudd • 01285 878 268
www.sjp.co.uk
tony.mudd@sjp.co.uk
STELLAR ASSET MANAGEMENT LTD
Jonathan Gain • 020 3195 3500
www.stellar-am.com
jonathan.gain@stellar-am.com
SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGY INVESTORS LTD
Gordon Power • 020 3657 4860
www.still.uk.com
grp@still.uk.com
THE WINE INVESTMENT FUND
Andrew Della Casa • 020 7478 0901
www.wineinvestmentfund.com
adc@wineinvestmentfund.com
TRIPLE POINT INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
Claire Ainsworth • 020 7201 8900
www.triplepoint.com
contact@triplepoint.com
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
81

Directory
VIRIDIS NAVITAS CAPITAL PARTNERS
David Newman • 020 7993 5307
www.vn-cp.co.uk
dnewman@vn-cp.co.uk
WORTH CAPITAL
Hayley Etherington • 020 7428 6006
www.worthcapital.uk
hayley@worthcapital.uk
Worth Capital exists to help the UKs brightest entrepreneurs obtain funds and expertise required to turn their
innovations into thriving businesses, whilst delivering returns for investors.
In partnership with Startups.co.uk, the ‘go to’ platform for entrepreneurs, Worth Capital has launched The
Start-up Series, the UK’s largest ever seed funding competition. Every month one start-up business will qualify,
subject to terms, to receive up to £150,000 of seed capital.
Worth Capital and fund specialists Amersham Investment Management have created the Start-Up Series SEIS
Fund One to invest £2.1 million, principally in the 12 monthly winners of the first year of the Start-Up Series and
to allow for further discretionary investments.
82 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

INFORMATION
MEMORANDUM
For further information, please contact
Nicola Johnston
Head of Finance
nicolajohnston@chfmedia.com
+44 (0)845 512 1000
www.chfenterprises.co.uk
i

OPEN OFFERS
Highlighting some of the key offerings currently available to IFAs
EIS SEIS VCT SITR IHT BPR

Open Offers
EIS
Open
December 2015
Close
At Capacity
Amount to be Raised: £20m
T. 020 7391 4747
E. questions@time-investments.com
www.time-investments.com
TIME:EIS Shipping
TIME:EIS Shipping invests in dry bulk shipping, offering investors an asset
backed opportunity in a global industry that has been established for thousands
of years. Shipping is a sector recently identified by the Government as vital to
the UK economy and one it is keen to support.
Targeting a base case return of £1.27 for each net 70p invested, this noncontentious
business model makes TIME:EIS Shipping an excellent fit within
the EIS regulations – which is why advance assurance from HMRC has already
been granted.
TIME:EIS Shipping has an initial capacity of £20 million, after having raised
its full £5 million for its first tranche in the 2015/16 tax year, tranche 2 is now
open for investment in the 2016/17 tax year. Alongside our specialist EIS team,
support is provided by third parties with substantial experience in shipping.
Key information for TIME:EIS Shipping
• Asset backed, with investment realisation expected within 4-5 years
• Each vessel purchased without use of debt, thereby reducing the overall
risk profile
• Highly rated by independent researchers
• Minimum investment £10,000
Open
Evergreen
EIS
Close
Evergreen
Amount to be Raised: N/A
Minimum Investment: £25,000
T. 01865 860 760
E. investment@oxcp.com
www.oxcp.com
Oxford Capital Growth EIS
Through the Oxford Capital Growth EIS, investors can build a portfolio of
shares in 8-12 companies over a period of roughly 12 months. Each portfolio
company should be eligible for EIS reliefs, including 30% income tax relief and
tax-free gains.
We invest in small businesses seeking to solve big scientific, technological
or commercial problems. Our current portfolio includes companies in
sectors including games development, eCommerce, digital healthcare
and artificial intelligence.
We work closely with our investee companies, helping to accelerate commercial
development with the aim of achieving a profitable exit, usually through either
a trade sale or a stock market listing. The Oxford Capital Growth EIS targets a
return of 2.0x the amount invested (net of applicable fees and not including the
impact of EIS tax reliefs), aiming to return the majority of proceeds 4-6 years
after initial investment.
Open
21/09/2016
EIS
Close
31/12/2016
Amount to be Raised: £560,000
Minimum Investment: £10,000
T. 020 7233 7602
E. info@gizmofilms.com
www.gizmofilms.com/funnycow
EIS Investment in forthcoming Martin Freeman & Maxine Peake Film
‘Funny Cow’ has already been acquired by Entertainment One, the distributor
behind ‘12 Years a Slave’, ‘The BFG’ and ‘Spotlight’ guaranteeing wide
distribution of this major UK comedy drama. As well as Freeman and Peake
cast includes Stephen Graham (Boardwalk Empire), Vic Reeves and more.
EIS investors can expect a 20% premium on their investment return a high
position in the recoupment ‘waterfall’ of incoming revenue and exclusive
benefits such as set visits, red carpet premiere invites and screening.
Gizmo Films, a highly experienced film finance company led by private equity &
EIS specialist Peter Dunphy, has selected ‘Funny Cow’ on behalf of its investors
due to the strong return schedule, top name cast and guaranteed distribution.
Production takes place between November 2016 and May 2017.
Suitable for self certified sophisticated and HNW investors only. Gizmo Films
works with HMRC approved SEIS and EIS firms only. Financial partner Brown
McLeod & Legal Partner Lee & Thompson. Banking partner Barclays Bank.
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
85

Open
Now
EIS
Close
Evergreen
Minimum Investment: £20,000
T. 020 7222 3475
E. eis@guinnessfunds.com
www.guinnessfunds.com
Guinness EIS
Guinness EIS is focused on identifying and investing in asset-backed companies
to prioritise capital preservation. The focus is on companies where the risks
can be mitigated contractually, or by the realisable value of the assets of the
business. The investment objective of Guinness EIS is to deliver tax-free
investment returns of over £1.25 per £1.00 invested, net of all fees, in addition
to £0.30 of EIS Income Tax Relief.
Investors can expect to own between three and six investments in companies
from a range of sectors that offer target investment characteristics. Examples
of these are:
• Businesses whose value is underpinned by property or land ownership such
as nurseries, gyms and pubs.
• Companies where a proportion of their value is through ownership of tangible
and tradable assets. This includes trading businesses such as luxury goods
dealers, or businesses with tradable assets such as logistics and freight.
• Businesses such as waste management or recycling that come with long term
contracts and high visibility of cashflows.
EIS
Open
January 2014
EIS
Open
01/08/2013
Close
Open-ended
Amount to be Raised: Unlimited
T. 020 7408 4070
E. info@pumainvestments.co.uk
www.pumainvestments.co.uk
Close
N/A
Amount to be Raised: Uncapped
PUMA INVESTMENTS - PUMA EIS
The Puma EIS Service employs a proven investment strategy to offer exposure
to asset-backed investments across a range of sectors. Puma EIS seeks to
support the growth of UK SMEs whilst focussing on capital preservation. It
seeks to deliver appropriate risk-adjusted returns together with the full range of
EIS tax reliefs on 100% of funds subscribed to the Service (after deduction of
Financial Adviser charges) depending on individual circumstances.
Successful deployment: Puma EIS has raised £40m+ to date. All funds raised
have been successfully deployed in EIS Qualifying companies within the tax
year of subscription to the service.
Closing dates: Puma EIS is an evergreen service but operates quarterly fund
closes usually in April (just prior to the end of the tax year), July, October and
January. Funds are allotted as soon as possible following these closes.
Realisations: It is envisaged that investments in Qualifying Companies will be
realised within 3 to 5 years.
Investment Size: Minimum subscription is £15,000 with no upper limit.
Deepbridge - Technology Growth EIS
The Deepbridge Technology Growth EIS represents an opportunity for investors
to participate in a portfolio of actively-managed growth-stage technology
companies, taking advantage of the potential tax benefits available under the
Enterprise Investment Scheme. The Deepbridge Technology Growth EIS is
a diversified portfolio of actively managed high-growth companies seeking
commercialisation funding. The Deepbridge EIS invests in companies that
have a proven technology, clear intellectual property and are operating in a high
growth/high value market sector.
Focused on investing in high growth companies that are seeking to
commercialise and expand, specifically in three sectors:
• Energy & resource innovation;
• Medical technology
• IT-based technology
T. 01244 746000
www.deepbridgecapital.com
The target return for the Deepbridge Technology Growth EIS 22.9% p.a. over a minimum of three years;
representing mid-case capital growth of 160p returned for every 100p invested. To ensure maximum
tax efficiency for the investor, the Deepbridge EIS is entirely investor-fee free at point of investment.
86 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Open Offers
Open
05/09/2016
Minimum Investment: £10,000
T. 020 7319 4290
E. hello@theingeniousgroup.co.uk
www.theingeniousgroup.co.uk
Open
05/09/2016
Open
Now
EIS
EIS
EIS
Close
16/12/2016
Close
16/12/2016
Minimum Investment: £10,000
T. 020 7319 4290
E. hello@theingeniousgroup.co.uk
www.theingeniousgroup.co.uk
Close
Evergreen
Amount to be Raised: N/A
T. 0131 556 0044
E. info@parequity.com
www.parequity.com
Ingenious Broadcasting 2016/17
Ingenious Broadcasting service first launched in 2005 and is our longest
running service investing in EIS qualifying companies that develop and produce
high quality television content.
Ingenious Broadcasting has raised more than £400m since inception and backed
EIS qualifying companies, which have collectively produced over 160 television
programmes totalling over 600 hours including Marcella, Jonathan Strange &
Mr Norrell, The Frankenstein Chronicles, Plebs, Clangers and The Teletubbies.
Due to client demand, the minimum for investment in this service is now
£10,000 (reduced from £50,000), providing greater opportunity for your clients
to invest and diversify.
Investors in this service could benefit from:
• Attractive underlying investments - our long-standing pivotal position in the
media industry ensures that we have access to a compelling pipeline of new
and exciting opportunities within film and television
• Advance Assurance - the manager will only invest in companies that have
received advance assurance from HMRC
This is in addition to the usual EIS benefits.
Ingenious Capital Management Limited (ICML) is authorised and regulated by the Financial
Conduct Authority
Greenlight Media 2016/17
Greenlight Media provides an opportunity to invest in a portfolio of companies
creating high quality independent film and television content. Greenlight Media
has been developed in response to investors’ growing appetite for a broader
investment remit that can offer potentially greater returns. The service will
pursue a blended investment strategy that will target uncapped upside potential
while mitigating performance risk by our proven approach to significant
downside protection.
Investors in this service could benefit from:
• Attractive underlying investments - our long-standing pivotal position in the
media industry ensures that we have access to a compelling pipeline of new
and exciting opportunities within film and television
• Advance Assurance - the manager will only invest in companies that have
received advance assurance from HMRC
This is in addition to the usual EIS benefits.
Ingenious Capital Management Limited (ICML) is authorised and regulated by the Financial
Conduct Authority
Par Syndicate EIS Fund
The Par Syndicate EIS Fund is an evergreen EIS fund, unapproved by HMRC,
investing in innovative high growth potential companies with a view to generating
capital gains. The fund, managed by Par Fund Management Limited, made its
first investment in December 2012 and realised its first exit in June 2016, with
sixteen investments to date.
The fund’s mandate is to invest alongside (and on the same terms as) business
angel syndicates, and usually co-invests with the Par Syndicate, a leading
business angel group that has been investing in a broad range of technology
businesses since 2009. The fund may be promoted to retail investors under
COBS 4.7. Independent research reports have been published by Hardman &
Co. and MICAP.
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
87

Open
Now
EIS
Close
Evergreen
Minimum Investment: £20,000
T. 020 7222 3475
E. eis@guinnessfunds.com
www.guinnessfunds.com
Guinness AIM EIS
Guinness AIM EIS has been established to make investments in AIM-listed
companies that are eligible for EIS tax reliefs. The investment objective of
Guinness AIM EIS is to deliver tax-free investment returns of over £1.30 per
£1.00 invested, net of all fees, in addition to £0.30 of EIS Income Tax Relief.
The Investment Manager will invest in a portfolio of AIM listed companies that it
believes will offer capital gain underpinned by sound financial assumptions and
robust management teams. Investors benefit from the investment management
experience of Andrew Martin Smith, who has 40 years of experience in the
financial services and has made a large number of smaller company investments
over that period.
For this service, Guinness defer all fees until exit, which maximises the amount
on which investors can claim EIS tax reliefs.
Open
07/06/2016
EIS
Close
31/12/2016
Maximum Raise: £25m
Minimum Investment: £10,000
T. 01223 478 558
E. fundtwenty8@syndicateroom.com
www.syndicateroom.com/fund-twenty8
Fund Twenty8
Fund Twenty8 (the Fund) is the first time a passive approach to investment
has been made available to EIS investors. Fund Twenty8 will invest alongside
Business Angels, Venture Capitalists and other Institutional Investors (the Lead
Investors). Fund Twenty8 will use the SyndicateRoom website (Platform)
to source and review the deal flow, and will track and automatically invest
equally alongside SyndicateRoom’s Sophisticated Investors, who are investing
individually on the Platform (Platform Investors). Fund Twenty8 will only
commit funds in opportunities that reach the Minimum Target Amount (MTA)
on the Platform. When an investment is oversubscribed and exceeds the
MTA, Fund Twenty8 will increase its allocation into these high demand deals.
Fund Twenty8’s investment will contribute to achieving the MTA.
It is a key objective of Fund Twenty8 to build a diversified portfolio of no less
than 28 different investments across a range of sectors. Fund Twenty8 will
not invest more than 1/28th of subscriptions into a single deal to guarantee
a portfolio of at least 28 investments. Eligible Fund Investors may receive
favourable tax treatment. Previous Lead Investors on the Platform include both
2013/14 and 2014/15 UK Business Angel Association “Angel Investors of the
Year” and award-winning Venture Capitalists.
Open
25/08/2016
EIS
Close
16/12/2016
Minimum Investment: £10,000
T. 020 7319 4290
E. hello@theingeniousgroup.co.uk
www.theingeniousgroup.co.uk
Shelley Media 2016/17
About Shelley Media
The Shelley Media service is now well established having raised more than
£300m over the last six years since inception and backed EIS qualifying
companies which have collectively produced over 100 film and television
projects. Recent critical and commercial successes include the 2016 Oscar®
nominated pictures Brooklyn and Carol with a pipeline of new productions
spanning the action thriller Kidnap starring Oscar® winner Halle Berry, crime
comedy Bad Santa 2, starring Billy Bob Thornton and the romantic comedy
How to Talk to Girls at Parties, starring Oscar® winner Nicole Kidman.
Investors in this service could benefit from:
• Attractive underlying investments – Ingenious’ long-standing pivotal position
in the media industry ensures that we have access to a compelling pipeline of
new and exciting opportunities within film and television
• Advance Assurance - the manager will only invest in companies that have
received advance assurance from HMRC
This is in addition to the usual EIS benefits.
Ingenious Capital Management Limited (ICML) is authorised and regulated by the Financial
Conduct Authority
88 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Open Offers
EIS
Open
06/09/2016
Close
Evergreen
Amount to be Raised: Open
Minimum Investment: £25,000
T. 01684 571 255
E. enquiries@blackfinch.com
www.blackfinch.com
Blackfinch Asset Focused Enterprise Investment Scheme
The Blackfinch Asset Focused EIS Portfolios allow investors to access
assetbacked trading activities that provide a degree of capital preservation
and risk mitigation. The EIS portfolios are a discretionary managed service
that means Blackfinch select the investee companies on behalf of the investor
according to our investment mandate. First and foremost, we will only invest into
companies that have been granted Advance Assurance from HMRC, providing
comfort to the investor that they qualify for the valuable EIS tax reliefs.
There is a clear opportunity for a well-capitalised construction company,
with access to a strong developer network and opportunities to construct
commercially appealing projects with granted planning permission. Together,
with a strong management team who have experience and extensive expertise
in the sector and access to the relevant construction skill sets, this provides a
compelling investment opportunity which can deliver growth and development
in order to produce a strong return for the investor.
Coupled with the strong underlying security provisions inherent within the
trading activity, this combination provides opportunity to access a strong riskadjusted
return. The Blackfinch Asset Focused EIS will initially expect to invest in
private domestic property construction with project sizes between £250,000–
£3,000,000 and commercial property construction such as retirement living,
nursing homes and crematoria.
EIS
Open
01/04/2015
Close
April 2017
Amount to be Raised: Open
Minimum Investment: £25,000
T. 01684 571 255
E. enquiries@blackfinch.com
www.blackfinch.com
Blackfinch Media EIS Portfolios
The Blackfinch Media EIS Portfolios will invest in EIS qualifying companies
including music publishing companies or television production and distribution
companies. Our music publishing companies are responsible for creating,
protecting, administering and monetising rights in musical compositions on
behalf of musicians, songwriters and composers.
Music publishing royalties are the revenues due to the owner of that underlying
intellectual property and are generated from a number of sources:
PERFORMANCE ROYALTIES - Generated when music is performed publicly
through broadcast on television, radio, cable and satellite or live performances
SYNCHRONIZATION ROYALTIES - Generated when music is used in connection
with visual images such as films, television programs, television commercials
and video games
MECHANICAL ROYALTIES - Generated through the sale of music in physical
formats such as CD’s and DVD’s or digital formats through download services
like iTunes.
Our television distribution companies sell the broadcast rights for television
programmes on behalf of producers. The companies acquire the distribution
rights for those television programmes by advancing money to the television
producer which is recovered in first position, along with sales commission and
expenses from the sales of the programme to international broadcasters who
license those rights.
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
89

Open
Now
EIS
Close
Evergreen
Amount to be Raised: N/A
Minimum Investment: £25,000
T. 020 7071 3926
E. seneca@lgbrtax.com
www.lgbrcapital.com
Seneca EIS Portfolio Service
The Seneca EIS Portfolio Service is an evergreen discretionary management
service that offers investors the opportunity to build a portfolio of equity
investments in UK based SMEs, which are seeking an injection of capital to fund
their next phase of growth.
The Service gives investors a portfolio of 4-6 investments per year diversified by
sector. It targets investment returns of £1.60 to £1.80 per £1 invested (excluding
tax reliefs). The EIS Service totals over £34m and has completed 45 investment
rounds across 28 companies. 13 companies in the portfolio service are already
AIM listed providing liquidity, market pricing and exit visibility for investors.
The Portfolio Manager, Seneca Partners, is part of the wider Seneca business,
which has c. £450m invested assets and over £4bn debt under advice.
The knowledge, experience and pedigree of Seneca’s investment team,
combined with their individual track records of successful investing in the SME
sector, is complimented by an extensive deal flow network in the UK’s SME
heartlands of northern England and the West Midlands.
EIS
Open
04/01/16
SEIS
Close
30/04/16
Amount to be Raised: £15m
T. 0330 223 1430
E. talong@merciafund.co.uk
www.merciafund.co.uk
Mercia Fund Management - Mercia Growth Fund 5
Mercia Growth Fund 5 is a tax efficient technology fund optimised to source,
support and scale UK growth enterprise across key sectors in which deep
expertise is held. The Fund aims to provide investors with access to a portfolio
of high growth opportunities in pioneering technology driven businesses
combined with a risk managed investment strategy and attractive tax
advantages.
At the heart of the Fund strategy lies Mercia’s ‘Complete Capital’ model,
designed to provide fledgling technology businesses with a single investment
partner solution, in addition to a sector specialist investment team, proprietary
deal flow sources including partnerships with 14 universities and a strategic
focus on the Midlands, the North and Scotland.
EIS
Open
August 2012
SEIS
Close
Evergreen
Amount to be Raised: N/A
T. 01865 784466
E. lucius@oxfordtechnology.com
www.oxfordtechnology.com
Oxford Technology EIS/SEIS Fund
Oxford Technology has specialised in investing in high risk/high potential return
technology start-ups since 1983. OT(S)EIS is fund no 14, and remains open
for investment at any time. Investors end up with a portfolio of SEIS and EIS
investments after 36 months.
The SEIS scheme transforms the economics of investing in start-ups. The
losses on those which fail are greatly reduced. The gains on those that succeed
are tax free. They key to success is to take real risk and to make large gains on
the successes.
To date we have made 24 investments and have had two failures (there will
surely be more in due course). But the losses on the failures, after tax reliefs
are only £12,300 and £21,000. So far we have had three successes (there will
surely be more) and the net gains on these (only on paper so far) are >£3.2m
after tax reliefs.
Our quarterly report, which gives a page of information on each of the
investments may be downloaded from www.oxfordtechnology.com. Investors
email to say how much they like this. Min investment £15,000. No initial fee. 3%
introductory fee to IFAs.
Man. fee 2% pa for 3 years, then 1.5% pa accrued. 0.35% pa custodian fee. 20%
performance fee after hurdle achieved. Full details in IM, also downloadable.
90 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Open Offers
SEIS
Open
17/01/2014
Close
N/A
Amount to be Raised: £1.7m
Minimum Investment: £25,000
T. 01684 571 255
E. enquiries@blackfinch.com
www.blackfinch.com
Blackfinch Seed EIS Music Portfolios
The Blackfinch SEIS Music Portfolios is a discretionary managed portfolio
service that uses our market position and expertise to provide compelling
investment opportunities that meet the strict SEIS investment criteria. Our
portfolios provide investors with an attractive opportunity to invest in a range of
companies which will fund the recording of new albums.
This will enable investors to participate directly in the success of individual
recording artists, with the distribution of their albums being provided by the
major record labels (Sony, Universal Music and Warner Bros.). Blackfinch
has been established in the UK investment market for over 20 years. Our
expertise and size have enabled us to forge strong relationships with specialist
partners operating in business areas that qualify for SEIS. Our portfolios access
management teams and industry experts with a wealth of experience in the UK
music industry. This provides access to high quality deal-flow and enables us
to create attractive and diversified portfolios that offer the best returns, whilst
inherently mitigating risk.
The UK is one of the biggest producers of new recorded music in the world.
Over recent decades British artists have been consistently successful, both
at home and abroad. That success is founded on continued investment into
new artists and new albums. The changing landscape of the industry means
that many of the major record labels (Universal Music, Sony and Warner Bros;
together, the “Majors”) are using their funds to sign fewer artists for more
money and that aggregate Artists and Repertoire (“A&R”) budgets continue to
shrink. This leaves a gap in the market for artists who are not being contracted
directly to the Majors to develop albums of their own for more modest amounts
of money in a more efficient way.
SEIS
Open
Close The Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS
01/07/2015 N/A The Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS is an opportunity to secure potentially
attractive returns by investing in a diversified portfolio of early-stage life science
Amount to be Raised: Uncapped companies, whilst taking advantage of the considerable income tax, capital
gains tax, and inheritance tax benefits available under the Seed Enterprise
Investment Scheme.
The Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS seeks to fund companies with exciting
new technologies that satisfy the needs of large and growing markets. The
overarching focus of the Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS offers investors
companies engaged in the development of therapeutics for the following areas:
• Anti-viral drug discovery and development
• Antibiotic drug discovery and development
• Neurodegenerative disease therapeutics
• Cancer diagnostics and therapeautics
• Autoimmune and other metabolic disorders therapies
T. 01244 746000
www.deepbridgecapital.com
The target return for the Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS is >35% over a minimum of five years;
representing mid-case capital growth of 250p returned for every 100p invested. To ensure maximum
tax efficiency for the investor, the Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS is entirely investor-fee free at point
of investment.
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
91

Open
Now
SEIS
Close
Multiple
Amount to be Raised: £2.1m
Minimum Investment: £10,000
T. 0207 428 6006
E. info@worthcapital.uk
www.worthcapital.uk
Start-Up Series SEIS Fund One
Invest in a portfolio of SEIS start-ups, selected through a series of competitions
searching for the brightest entrepreneurs with the smartest ideas.
The Start-Up Series is a competition to search for great new consumer
businesses - those creating products & services we buy and the ways that we
buy them. The Series is promoted in partnership with startups.co.uk, the ‘goto’
place for advice for new businesses, with over 400,000 unique visitors each
month. Worth Capital’s distillation and due diligence process aims to select 12
businesses over 12 months, to each qualify for up to £150,000 in SEIS funding,
with a further £300,000 of the fund reserved for discretionary investments.
Amersham Investment Management have created the Start-Up Series SEIS
Fund One to allow investors to invest in winning businesses.
The Start-Up Series competition reach is designed to produce a high volume of
businesses to consider
Sophisticated distillation methods to search among these for the brightest
entrepreneurs with the smartest ideas
Continued expert oversight from an investor director appointed to each startup
portfolio company
Multiple SEIS investments to create a tax efficient and diversified portfolio for
qualifying investors
Open
June 2013
IHT
Close
Open-ended
Amount to be Raised: Unlimited
T. 020 7408 4070
E. info@pumainvestments.co.uk
www.pumainvestments.co.uk
PUMA INVESTMENTS - PUMA HERITAGE
Puma Heritage’s core focus is on secured lending. Its primary objectives are to
preserve capital and mitigate risk.
Strategy: Conservative trading strategy focused on secured lending.
Flexibility: Choice of income or growth shares and ability to switch
between them.
Experienced Adviser: Puma Heritage has appointed Puma Investments as its
trading adviser.
Aligned Interests: The interests of Puma Investments (the trading adviser)
and Shareholders are entirely aligned: Puma Investments will not receive
any performance fees and its annual advisory fees are only paid in full if the
minimum target annual return is paid in full.
Liquidity: Twice yearly opportunity to access capital (subject to terms set out
in the Prospectus).
Subscription Amount: Minimum subscription of £25,000 with no maximum.
Inheritance Tax: It is intended that a subscription for shares in Puma Heritage
will benefit from relief from Inheritance Tax provided the shares have been
held for at least 2 years prior to and at the point of death and depending on
individual circumstances.
This is an advertisement only. A copy of the Prospectus is available on Puma Investments’ website.
Investors should not subscribe for shares in Puma Heritage Plc except on the basis of information in
the Prospectus.
92 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

Open Offers
IHT
Open
October 2014
Close
Open-ended
Amount to be Raised: Unlimited
T. 020 7408 4070
E. info@pumainvestments.co.uk
www.pumainvestments.co.uk
PUMA INVESTMENTS - PUMA AIM INHERITANCE TAX SERVICE
Puma AIM Inheritance Tax Service is a discretionary service that seeks to
mitigate Inheritance Tax by investing in a carefully selected portfolio of AIM
shares. The Puma AIM Inheritance Tax Service is also available in ISAs.
Portfolio Service: A discretionary portfolio service that seeks to deliver long
term growth focusing on quality companies listed on AIM.
Inheritance Tax: It is intended that investors will benefit from relief from
Inheritance Tax provided investments are held for at least 2 years prior to and at
the point of death and depending on individual circumstances.
Minimum subscription of £15,000 with no maximum.
Available in ISAs: Whilst ISAs can be extremely tax efficient during the holder’s
lifetime, upon death ISA balances may be subject to a 40% IHT liability. Investing
in a portfolio of qualifying AIM stocks gives holders the opportunity to mitigate
Inheritance Tax while still retaining the benefits of an ISA. ISA Transfers can be
accepted from existing providers as well as new investments.
BPR
Open
Close Deepbridge IHT Service
01/07/2015 N/A The Deepbridge IHT Service is designed to deliver capital preservation from a
portfolio of Business Relief qualifying renewable energy companies that seek
Amount to be Raised: Uncapped to have a high degree of asset-backing and a business model based on the
Renewables Obligation, the UK Government subsidies for the generation of
renewable energy. Utilising Business Relief, subscriptions may be eligible for
exemption from IHT after a minimum of two years.
The Deepbridge IHT Service has a target priority return of 6% per annum after
the second year.
Investment criteria:
• Attractive subsidies: The UK Government offers subsidies to the renewable
energy sector, including Renewable Obligation Certificates and Feed-in-
Tariffs.
T. 01244 746000
www.deepbridgecapital.com
• No planning risk: Investments will be made in projects with all the necessary
permissions in place, providing a known cost base for the investment.
• Proven technology: The use of proven renewable energy technologies that
allow levels of energy production to be forecast with a good level of accuracy.
Open
Now
BPR
Close
Evergreen
Minimum Investment: £25,000
T. 020 7222 3475
E. eis@guinnessfunds.com
www.guinnessfunds.com
Guinness Sustainable Infrastructure Service
The Guinness Sustainable Infrastructure Service has been launched to help
investors pass more of their wealth onto their family. The Service has no initial
fee for advised clients and will make investments into companies that qualify for
Business Property Relief.
Investee companies will own and operate sustainable energy projects, with
an initial focus on rooftop solar photovoltaic installations. These projects have
strong visibility of revenues that are usually index-linked.
• Focus on capital preservation and targeting a minimum 5 per cent per annum
return for investors
• There are no initial fees for advised investors
• Regular share redemption opportunities available
• Redemptions may be made after the first 12 months
• Once held for two years, BPR qualifying investments fall outside an investor’s
estate of IHT purposes.
EIS Yearbook 2016/17
93

Open Offers
Open
Evergreen
BPR
Close
Evergreen
Amount to be Raised: Unlimited
T. 020 7391 4747
E. questions@time-investments.com
www.time-investments.com
TIME:Advance
TIME:Advance is a discretionary management service that allows investors to
access Business Property Relief (BPR) to mitigate their Inheritance Tax (IHT)
liabilities. The service offers 100% IHT relief in just two years, alongside a
targeted return of 3.5% per annum. Importantly clients retain access and control,
so have the option to withdraw a lump sum or set up regular withdrawals in the
form of an income.
The service focuses on capital preservation by investing in asset backed
businesses with no debt which qualify for BPR. These businesses include
secured lending, renewable energy, biomass and self-storage. The product
is managed by an expert team, with a proven 20 year track record of 100%
success in achieving BPR for investors.
Open
Evergreen
BPR
Close
Evergreen
Amount to be Raised: Unlimited
T. 020 7391 4747
E. questions@time-investments.com
www.time-investments.com
TIME: CTC (Corporate Trading Companies)
TIME:CTC is a bespoke Inheritance Tax (IHT) solution for corporate investors,
which boasts an impressive 20 year track record of delivering IHT relief for
investors. TIME:CTC is aimed at business owners who have built up surplus
cash in their business and could potentially lose Business Property Relief (BPR).
The focus of TIME:CTC is on capital preservation by investing in asset backed
businesses which qualify for BPR. These businesses include secured lending,
renewable energy, biomass and self-storage. Our strategy allows business
owners to maintain control of their assets, avoiding the need for trusts or gifting
to obtain relief.
Targeting a return of 3.5% and potentially immediate reinstatement of BPR
qualifying assets. To date more than 500 of our clients have already achieved
BPR on their investments, a 100% success rate.
Open
Evergreen
BPR
Close
Evergreen
Amount to be Raised: N/A
Minimum Investment: £25,000
T. 01865 860 760
E. investment@oxcp.com
www.oxcp.com
Oxford Capital Estate Planning Service
The Oxford Capital Estate Planning Service can help investors mitigate
Inheritance Tax by investing in companies that should qualify for Business
Property Relief, subject to the requisite holding period.
Clients can choose from five different investment options, depending on their
preference for capital growth or dividend income. If a client’s circumstances
change, they can elect to switch to an alternative investment option. Target
returns range from 3% to 5% p.a., and capital can be accessed within 1-6
months through the sale of shares.
Investors in the Estate Planning Service will acquire shares in unquoted holding
companies. Managed by Oxford Capital’s infrastructure investment team, these
companies will make equity investments in, and loans to, companies which in
turn will own and operate revenue-generating assets. The investment strategy
is currently focused on small-scale power generating equipment, including
renewable energy assets. Over time, it is possible that other assets will be added
to the portfolio.
94 EIS Yearbook 2016/17

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