The EIS Navigator

The partnership between Foresight and Williams Advanced Engineering is unique in the EIS and VCT space. Andy Bloxam manages this area for Foresight and he gives us an insight into this unique relationship.We start off by discussing how the relationship came about, and how it works in practice. We dig into how it has evolved over time, how Foresight and Williams balance their relative strengths and its set up to avoid a extractive relationship.Given the emphasis on deeptech, we also discuss investing in hardware. We talk about the evolving landscape, how technology is affecting lead times and the challenges of testing markets and first customers in this area. Finally, Andy gives one of the most innovative ideas to improve the EIS and VCT market that we have had on the podcast!LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-bloxam/Foresight website: https://www.foresightgroup.eu/Foresight Williams website: https://www.foresightwilliams.co.uk/Suggested book:Great by Choice by Jim Collins and Morten T. HansenBioAndy BloxamDirector, Private Equity, Foresight GroupAndy joined Foresight’s Private Equity team in 2018 and is a Director in the London office. His primary responsibility is sourcing, making and managing investments on behalf of the Foresight Williams Technology EIS and VCT funds.Prior to joining Foresight, Andy spent more than 15 years advising and investing in early-stage UK technology companies. Most recently he was a Director at Committed Capital, a tech-focused private equity and advisory firm. Prior to that, he was an Associate at Strata Partners, a tech-focused corporate finance advisor, and previously an investment banking analyst at JPMorgan, as part of the tech M&A team.Andy holds a BA in Economics from the University of Cambridge and an MBA with distinction from Surrey Business School.

Getting financial and transaction data on private companies can be challenging. MarktoMarket aims make that easier, which gives CEO Doug Lawson a great perspective on the market, which he shares in this episode.First we talk about data. We chat about what the issues are, and how MarktoMarket aims to get around those. Doug talks about how some of it is looking in the right place and how patterns emerge when there is enough data. He also discusses the extent to which processes can be automated with AI and when an analytical input is needed.We then discuss some of the insights that this has given them about the private markets, especially valuation. Doug breaks down how not everything is a bubble and talks about how different parts of the markets have behaved. We also talk about how valuations affect investment strategies and where they are being used in a kind of valuation arbitrage to enhance value.Email: doug@marktomarket.ioMarktoMarket website: https://marktomarket.io/Suggested book:Bad Blood by John CarreyrouBioDoug LawsonCEO and Co-founder, MarktoMarketDoug is cofounder and CEO of MarktoMarket, a data platform specialising in private company intelligence, which is backed by VCs 24Haymarket, Techstart and Par Equity. Doug founded MarktoMarket following a career in fund management, where he specialised in investing in private and public companies. Before this he worked in M&A and qualified as a chartered accountant.

St James Place is the biggest writer of business in across the whole tax advantaged market. In this episode we get Luke Barnett on to discuss how they select individual products and how that translates into panel building.Luke gives great insights into how they look at individual products and how they weight up the different strategies, how they look at teams and track records. We also discuss fees and how to look at them.When it comes to panel building, St James Place has a relatively straightforward strategy. But the current environment is bringing additional challenges and we talk about the strong demand for VCTs and how they manage a panel when offers close so quickly.St James Place Wealth Management website: https://www.sjp.co.uk/Suggested book:Bad Blood by John CarreyrouBioLuke BarnettHead of Tax Advantaged Strategies, St. James Place Wealth ManagementLuke is the Head of Tax Advantaged Strategies at St James’s Place, and oversees the firms panel of products in the Tax-Advantaged market. He recently joined from MJ Hudson where he covered the same space and oversaw the manager research and due diligence process across EIS, VCT and BR products.

Unusually for an EIS fund manager, VGC has moved it the market from the institutional end. Their focus on consumer and digital media is somewhat unusual in the sector and we effectively do a case study on one of their investments. Kick Game is a premium sneaker retailer. Parminder talks about how they identified the company as the right player in a market and stalked it to invest. He also discusses what they did after investing, how they developed its retail and marketing strategy to enable its growth.We also look at how corporate partners fit into the venture landscape. We talk about the benefits for corporates and startups, finding the right partner and how to avoid problems that may arise.VGC Partners website: https://vgcp.co.uk/Suggested books:Good to Great by Jim CollinsBioParminder Basran, Founding Partner and CEO, VGC PartnersParminder worked in FMCG for 7 years before attending business school, subsequently founding VGC in 2011.The first investments were made on a deal-by-deal basis, and these included Metropolis London, a music studio, production, publishing and agency business.Subsequent investments included Round World Entertainment, the holding company of 10Ten Talent, the football and talent management business, Iconic Images, the owner of the photographic archive of Terry O’Neill and Super Awesome, the fast-growing kid tech business based in London.In March 2019 the team achieved a final close of VGC Partners Fund I, backed by institutional investors, family offices and high net worth individuals, to focus on growth companies in the consumer and media sectors in the U.K.Parminder attended Rutgers University in New Jersey and has a BA in Management Studies from the University of Leeds. He also holds an MBA from London Business School.

Social impact investing is an area that sounds good in principle but is often not well understood by those not involved in it. We asked Emma Steele, who runs the social benefit funds at Ascension, to come on and discuss investing in this topical area.We get her to define a social benefit that is investible and she brings some examples. We talk about the twin objectives of profit and social benefit, how they conflict (spoiler: they don't necessarily) and how to ensure companies don't pivot away from providing a social benefit. We also talk about measurementShe discusses the wider environment, how companies view impact investing and for-profit companies as instruments of societal change. We also talk about the investor perspective and how this area may develop going forward.Ascension website: https://www.ascension.vc/Emma Steele on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-steele-b7a98832/Suggested book:Lean Impact by Ann Mei Chang and Eric RiesBioEmma Steele - Investment Director, AscensionEmma heads up Ascension’s impact funds, immersed in sector verticals and business models with potential for both commercial and impact returns at scale. She manages fundraising, deployment and portfolio management for the Fair By Design and Good Food Funds across Fintech/Insurtech (improving financial inclusion), Energy (reducing costs), Transport and Food (helping healthy and affordable food environments to scale).Prior to joining Ascension in January 2018, Emma spent some time in the charity sector at Eastside Primetimers, progressing the sustainability of charity revenue models and encouraging social investment in the sector (such as FSE’s debt deal into the Giving Machine). Prior to that, she spent five and a half years in the corporate banking division of Santander UK as a Credit Partner in the Large Corporates team and Associate Director in the Healthcare Finance team.Emma holds an MSc in Development Economics from the University of Sussex and a BSc in Philosophy, Politics & Economics from the University of Warwick.

Most angel networks start organically, with the members drawn from a geography or having a particular interest. 24Haymarket has taken a different approach, with a distinct philosophy. We invited its CEO, Paul Tselentis, to discuss what it did and why.He talks about how 24Haymarket started, with an early focus on experienced private equity professionals. We discuss how they leveraged these contacts and how it has influenced factors, such as ow the Network invests at a much later stage than most angel networks. Paul outlines how 24Haymarket has evolved its processes in the light of experience. We also talk about the membership of the Network, the expectations for members in terms of fees and commitment and how it grows. We ask Paul about how he expects it to evolve in the future.24Haymarket website: https://24haymarket.com/Address; 24 Haymarket, LondonSuggested books:Bad Blood by John CarreyrouHouse of Pain by Patrick Radden KeefeBioPaul TselentisCEO and Board Member, 24HaymarketPaul is a co-founder and the CEO of 24Haymarket having been working with the business for the past 8 years. He previously worked in institutional private equity and venture capital at The Carlyle Group and CCMP Capital and began his career at Lehman Brothers in the Investment Banking Division in New York. Paul has a Bachelors degree in Economics from Harvard University.

While 2021 wasn't quite as dramatic as the previous year, it was still an eventful one. The EIS navigator team have got another all-star panel to discuss what happened. Mark Brownridge, Director General of EIS Association, Neil Cole, Head of Wealth Planning Solutions, UBS Wealth Management, and Kealan Doyle, Director, Symvan Capital join Brian to pick through the debris and the prospects for 2021.We chat through what's happened in fundraising, including the recent surge in demand for VCT offers. We also talk about the challenges of deploying all this money, particularly with valuations being so high. We also cover the normalising of ESG, how platforms look after the Kuber failure and get the panel to make some predictions for 2022. Finally, we get Mark to look back on his term as Director-General and what challenges the new DG will face.Links:EIS Assocation - https://eisa.org.uk/Symvan Capital - https://www.symvancapital.com/UBS Wealth Management - https://www.ubs.com/uk/en/wealth-management/home.html

The recent COP26 conference has stimulated a surge of interest in how we can make a difference as investors. Nick Lyth set up Green Angel Syndicate to solve that problem and in a wider ranging discussion we cover his story, experiences and philosophy.There are many practical challenges, from finding the right companies, what could be their impact and how you measure that. We also discuss timescales, balancing the long-term view of an angel investor with the immediacy of the climate issue. We also cover many of the wider aspects of the climate crisis. Nick's background in advertising gives an good perspective on the use of language and how the green movement has been losing that battle. We also discuss the role of politics in both environmental movements and investments.Green Angel Syndicate website: https://greenangelsyndicate.com/Email: nick@greenangelsyndicate.comSuggested book:Angels, Dragons and Vultures by Simon Acland

In this episode the tables are turned as the usual host, Brian Moretta, has recently published a paper on how venture capital fits into retail investor portfolios, with some surprising results. Andrew Aldridge steps into the host seat to discuss the paper.The heart of the paper is the consequences of venture capital being a diversifying asset compared with equity and bonds. Brian discusses what this means for investors and how investors can increase expected returns on their portfolios without taking any additional risk by adding venture capital in the right way. There are consequences for the overall asset allocation which are easily dealt with, but are important.They also talk about several other areas covered in the paper. The analysis initially shows the benefits are significant without tax reliefs, but also look at what happens when these are added. The genuine exceptions get discussed, as well as common misoconcpetions. These include the pension fallacy, the idea that pensions should be filled first, and the idea that high risk investments are only for high-risk investors - both are demonstrably false. Hardman & Co website: https://www.hardmanandco.com/Link to white paper: https://www.hardmanandco.com/tes-white-paper-how-much-should-clients-invest-in-venture-capital/Thanks to our white paper sponsors: SyndicateRoom, One Four Nine Wealth, Nova Growth Capital and Deepbridge Capital. Thanks also to Andrew Aldridge, Head of Marketing at Deepbridge, for interviewing so ably.Suggested books:The Choice by Edith EgerTrust Me I'm Lying by Ryan Holiday

With COP26 having just finished, ESG is back on investors agenda but so far it hasn't delivered. We get Matt Jellicoe of OnePlanetCapital on to discuss why and what we can do about it.Matt draws on his experience of setting up a new fund that is environmentally focused, and finding out that the way ESG is applied to investments wasn't helpful. We discuss the difference between ESG and genuine impact investments and how this is leaving advisers and investors somewhat confused.We also talk about the extent this is a binary categorisation or whether investments exist on a spectrum, how the UN Sustainable Development Goals seem to generating a common language and how close we are to getting clarity so investors can get what they want: investments that are doing good things.OnePlanetCapital website: https://www.oneplanet.capital/Suggested books:No single recommendation from Matt, but he did suggest the histories that Winston Churchill wrote.