Symvan Capital aims at £10m for Technology EIS investment fund

  • Investment , IT Innovations
  • 13.03.2017 07:30 am

Symvan Capital, provider of tax-efficient disruptive technology investment opportunities, is targeting a £10 million fundraising for its new high-growth technology EIS fund. This fund will benefit from the government’s Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS). Namely, capital gains on disposal of shares are freed from Capital Gains Tax after three years, relieved capital gains or income is available for EIS shares which are disposed of at any time at a loss. In addition, if shares are held for at least three years there is income tax relief worth 30% of the value of shares purchased, up to a maximum investment of £1 million. 

The award-winning fund manager says that its Symvan Technology EIS Fund will allow private investors to invest in UK high-growth technology companies that have already proven their commercial viability, undergone a long-term due diligence process and demonstrated the potential to scale.

All companies in the Fund have received earlier investment from Symvan Capital through the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS), and since then have benefitted from commercial development and direction from Symvan Capital. This approach also allows Symvan Capital to undertake ongoing due diligence on these investments on a regular basis.

These companies are now mature enough for further investment, and proven their potential for significant commercial success.

‘California-style’ approach unique amongst EIS providers in UK

Symvan Capital says that its ‘California-style’ approach to early-stage investment in high-growth technology companies makes it unique in the UK amongst EIS providers.

Kealan Doyle, CEO of Symvan Capital, comments: “Our unique model allows us to reduce the risk of investing in high-growth technology businesses – the companies in the fund have already proven that they are commercially viable since we initially invested in them at an early stage.”

“Tech investment in the UK has often focused on university spin-outs. While the technology developed by these businesses is often enormously exciting, bringing a hard-nosed commercial approach to them can sometimes be difficult. That’s why the fund focuses on commercially proven businesses that are on the path to scale, and can achieve substantial valuation uplift in the short to medium term.”

The fund has a target of £10 million in subscriptions, with a minimum investment of £20,000. The deadline for subscriptions for the next round of investment is 5th April 2017.

Symvan Capital says that the Fund will focus on companies across several key areas: software, machine-learning & analytics, social media & digital media and media & entertainment.

Investee companies include:

  • B.heard: helps provide customer feedback for companies, with valuable insight about what they think. Its ‘value comparison platform’ merges traditional elements of price comparison, review websites and regulatory data
  • Buying Butler: a graduate of Microsoft Accelerator in 2014, Buying Butler has created a B2B digital ‘concierge buying service’ which helps customers understand the best options available to them. It is largely focused on the automotive industry, and more recently, on the vehicle insurance market specifically
  • Cognisess: disrupts the ‘old economy’ recruitment model through neuroscience, game-based assessment and big data analytics, providing a comprehensive and objective analysis of a candidate that a traditional recruitment process cannot provide

The Fund is supported by an advisory panel, with extensive expertise in technology and innovation, compliance and EIS investments. The panel is actively involved in the due diligence process and assessment of commercial viability of proposed technologies.

Kealan Doyle said, “Our selection process sets us apart on the EIS landscape. Sourcing companies from our existing SEIS funds means that Symvan’s due diligence is an on-going process, rather than what might be a snapshot just before the investment is made. That means we understand how our investee companies and their management teams work over an extended period, and investors can benefit from that certainty and experience.”

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