Our client was the founder of a business bringing a new eco friendly household product. This B2C start-up wished to attract new investment to fund new products to broadening their range of eco-friendly products and the inherent marketing spend required for their launch. We were engaged to support the founder team and to attract investors.
From our initial diligence we supported the founder team in the preparation of a professional pitch deck.
The deck answered the key questions that investors would be asking and we rehearsed a summary of the deck for our face to face meetings. This preparation allowed the team to put it’s best foot forward and present the opportunity in it’s best possible light.
From our database of High Net Worth Investors “HNW” we prepared a short list of those investors we knew would be open to this opportunity in particular.
Our position as senior non-executive director “NED” on the board signalled our confidence in the proposal to the shortlist.
A well prepared deck to a targeted shortlist of HNW coupled with ESG factors central to this sustainable proposal was slam dunked with qualification for the Enterprise Investment Scheme “EIS”.
The EIS scheme is a UK government incentive to encourage more of the John Lewis model, being private persons holding shares in UK businesses not on the stock market. The benefit for the investor is immediate tax relief in the year of investment, receiving a tax credit to the value of 30% of their investment. A £10,000 investment here, immediately attracted a £3,000 reduction in your current year tax charge. Yes, attractive.
Furthermore, the future gains on this investment sit outside of Capital Gains Tax “CGT” or Inheritance Tax “IHT”, again attractive. An investor can put £1m into such investments in any tax year. Yes, these investment are more risk, but with rigour in the diligence and good knowledge of the team and proposition, this is a very attractive way to invest in and around sectors that you possible know well or are comfortable with.
We were very pleased, but not surprised that this Series A funding round was oversubscribed and closed out in 5 short weeks.
We are happy sharing our experience and insight with you, having held senior roles in large public and private organisations you can tap into that history.
We are investors too, we share the skills from across our portfolio with you. We are practiced at building winning teams of strong effective senior managers.
Ultimately its about you and your fulfilling your plans for growth. When you have what you need, our work is done and we leave you to it.