Kuber Ventures, the alternative investment platform specialising in EIS and SEIS, has added three new funds, bringing the total to 39.
The EIS funding platform expects to have added another dozen specialist funds by the autumn.
To date, Kuber Ventures has helped raise £53 million worth of funding, of which £48 million has been invested in around 500 companies.
It invests in a spread of sectors from technology through to leisure and media.
Investors who place money through Kuber can expect to double their investment providing it is tied up for between five to seven years.
The three new funds are the Evergreen EIS Fund from EMV Capital (EMVC), the Vala EIS Portfolio and Velocity SEIS Technology Fund 4.
The EMVC Evergreen EIS Fund invests in B2B tech businesses. EMVC stresses that its relationships with institutional and corporate investors and other investment vehicles avoids the danger of its investments becoming “stranded” by being unable to raise post-seed capital.
The Vala EIS Portfolio invests in companies managed by entrepreneurs who have a track record in growing high-growth businesses. Vala’s investments are managed by a group of serial entrepreneurs who personally invest in the same portfolio companies in order to align themselves with the success of each company.
Velocity SEIS Technology Fund 4 is aimed at tech-savvy digital companies that have the potential to scale up quickly. The fund promises a 25 per cent return to investors.
Kuber currently has relations with 328 advisers across 196 firms. It has over £53 million worth of assets on the platform, up from £41 million 12 months ago.
Investments include the London-based Temper barbecue restaurant chain.
Dermot Campbell, CEO of Kuber Ventures, said the platform was established to help what he calls the “averagely wealthy” – investors who have anything between £250,000 and £1 million to invest in any one tax year. Kuber’s clients on average invest about 10 per cent of this – anything between £25,000 to £100,000 in riskier EIS investment funds.
Campbell said: “Investor appetite has been surprisingly strong this tax year. We’ve seen more interest than ever before, with the number of enquiries up 20 per cent year on year.
“The beginning of the year started out quite well but then dropped off quite alarmingly. Not much happened before Christmas. Very few people were investing at the height of the Brexit confusion. I expect we’re going to see the usual scramble before the end of the tax year.”
Campbell says that unlike conventional stock market investing, investing in EIS-qualifying small businesses creates value by helping them grow. “In theory, you get a much better return than you would by secondary investing,” he said.
Campbell added: “What you’re looking to do is to build a portfolio of around 30 investments, of which around half a dozen may go bust quickly, but a handful perform outstandingly. The more you spread the risk, the more you can expect to double your return.”
