Jenson Funding Partners (“Jenson”) is an early-stage investor that manages both SEIS and EIS funds. Our experienced team has a preference for investing in tech-enabled businesses with a defensible offering, which is both scalable and problem-solving.
We believe the best way to work with growth businesses is through genuine partnership: we don’t just want to provide funding, but to work alongside and mentor founders through those vital early stages. Understanding what a business needs at each stage, we’re adept at combining quickly deployed capital with hands-on support to scale the companies in our portfolio and deliver returns for investors.
With this in mind, our EIS fund invests in our existing portfolio of companies that have already received SEIS funding because we want to bridge that gap between SEIS and later stage funding. The benefits of investing in our existing portfolio are:
- Validated pipeline – We have a long-standing relationship with the founders we are investing in and understand their journeys, having been there from the start.
- Proven business model – Having worked with the companies, we have seen their business model working, if they are generating revenues or have a clear path to revenue generation.
- Fast deployment – Potential EIS investee companies are familiar with our processes, allowing us to deploy into them quickly and effectively.
Jenson’s first tranche of EIS investment for the 22/23 tax year will be closing very soon. The companies have been selected, so this is a follow-on round from our 21/22 investments and the terms have been agreed. Investing and deploying this early in the tax year will allow for:
- Carry-back relief to 21/22– If you missed out on tax reliefs in 21/22 there is still an opportunity to utilise your EIS allowance by carrying back your investment to the 21/22 tax year.
- Timely receipt of share certificates– Average turnaround time for HMRC to issue share certificates is three months from application by the portfolio company. You could therefore start to receive your certificates as early as October.
- Tax Reliefs– 30% income tax relief, loss relief and CGT deferral may be claimed for investments.
- No upfront fees– 100% of investment invested.
Here is an example of one of our EIS-eligible portfolio companies currently raising capital:
Sustainable and cultural travel marketplace Not In The Guidebooks (“NITGB”) wants to replace the generic offerings sold by larger tour operators, often led by people who haven’t even visited a destination before, by connecting holidaymakers with genuine local experts. NITGB aggregates, curates and creates local authentic and sustainable experiences and supply to Travel Agents & Direct Travellers, and are The FIRST & ONLY preferred provider of responsible local experiences to the trade.
NITGB aims to help people have memorable experiences during their travels, even if it’s just one day out of their time away that they want to do something unique to the area. The company achieves this by ensuring all trips are aligned to its three core pillars, which include:
(1) Local: All featured trips, food or accommodation should be found through locally sourced suppliers to enhance the business benefit to those in the community alongside increased authenticity for tourists.
(2) Sustainable: Focused on four of the UN’s 17 SDGs, including supporting local communities; fighting climate change, such as removing plastics from the water during whale watching; driving diversity & inclusion; respecting animal welfare.
(3) Experiential: Building immersive memories for customers, whether that’s hiking with llamas or making food with a makeshift underground oven, believing in the importance of connecting to people.
NITGB was founded in 2017, since Jenson’s first investment in 2020 NITGB has so far:
- developed a technologically enabled e-commerce platform with live availability and an agent’s dashboard;
- grown partnerships with over 1,200 experiences available; and
- secured contracts with 95% of the travel market.
