Cambridge based SyndicateRoom has launched the Growth Fund, an EIS fund designed to invest in the best-performing businesses that make up the platform’s portfolio.
It will sit alongside Fund Twenty8, the industry’s first and only passive fund for early-stage EIS opportunities. The company said that the two funds together bring more choice for private investors searching for returns in a low-yield economic environment, by offering both an active and passive approach into companies at different stages of their growth cycle.
The Growth Fund aims to bring sophisticated and high-net-worth investors into series A and B raises by SyndicateRoom’s portfolio companies. Typically the preserve of institutional investors, investors have to date been excluded from these deals.
CEO and Co-founder of SyndicateRoom Gonçalo de Vasconcelos said: “With a fast-growing group of more than 110 of the UK’s most trailblazing companies, we’re seeing huge potential from SyndicateRoom’s portfolio. However, many of these companies tend to go to top-tier VCs for their follow-on funding rounds. It’s fantastic to see them succeed, but it’s also frustrating because private investors are being excluded from these exciting later-stage investment opportunities. SyndicateRoom’s Growth Fund has been designed to ensure that members don’t miss out on these deals. The recent announcement by the Chancellor regarding EIS and VCT funds will result in an increase of EIS private capital being channelled to high-growth companies – which are exactly the kinds of companies that we welcome to the SyndicateRoom platform.
Richard Castle, Finance Director, Recycling Technologies (a SyndicateRoom portfolio company) said: “SyndicateRoom’s initiative to offer continued financial support to the best-performing portfolio companies as they scale their growth is one of the most inspired ideas I’ve seen from an investment platform.
“Since raising funds with SyndicateRoom three years ago, the team has grown to know us well and has a solid grasp of our performance. For a larger-scale, follow-on investment round, Growth Fund would provide simplicity, be well aligned and make a lot of sense.”
