From its start-up in September 2015, Moo.la has been funded with Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS).
“In 2015 it was just me and an idea. After years working in investment and financial services, I’d become frustrated with its unnecessary complexity, which puts people off and means they often don’t know how much they are paying or what they are paying for. A situation that suits only one group – financial companies themselves. So I had this concept for an investment service that is different – easy to use and understand, with low and transparent costs, and in which people can save small amounts but still access high quality, sophisticated investments. It quickly became clear that employers needed a service like this for their staff, too, and that financial intermediaries, such as financial advisers and wealth managers, could also use it to manage their businesses more efficiently and convert loss-making clients into profitable ones.
Securing external investment was essential to getting the business off the ground and SEIS and EIS was the natural choice for many of my investors because the tax reliefs and incentives SEIS and EIS provide mean the risks and cost of investment are reduced.
EIS and SEIS are win-win for everyone. Because investors can offset some of their risks through tax relief, businesses like mine can more easily get the funding they need to grow, become profitable and successful, and reward their investors. The government wins too – through the employment, tax revenues and other economic benefits derived from a thriving private sector.
The process of getting the funding was painless too – we’ve been through two rounds of funding in just over a year, without any delays. Moo.la now employs nine people, plus freelancers and consultants. The money we’ve received through SEIS and EIS has allowed us to do that, giving us working capital and ultimately putting us on a relatively short pathway to profitability. We’ve already got some 2,000 people signed up, and that’s before we fully launch in early 2017. All of this would have been possible without EIS and SEIS funding, but it’s certainly made it much easier and faster for us to get to where we are now.”
From its start-up in September 2015, Moo.la has been funded with Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) financing. A second round of external funding has recently been completed with EIS investors. In total, just over half of Moo.la’s funding has come from SEIS & EIS investment.
Moo.la has grown from one person to nine in a year with the help of SEIS & EIS funding.
Moo.la has been through two funding rounds for SEIS & EIS financing in a year.
More than half of Moo.la’s funding has come from SEIS & EIS.