On the 19th of June, 2024, the EIS ecosystem came together to celebrate all the hard work of the past year at the EISA Awards held at the House of Lords, Westminster.
All of the entries were fantastic, and our independent judges had a challenge in deciding the shortlist, let alone the winners. You can read more about the event here.
Now, onto the shortlist – click their names to learn more about each one.
EISA Awards Shortlist for 2024
Best SEIS Investee Company
WINNER: MyARC
MyARC is a fitness app for content creators and their fans. They enable the world’s top fitness content creators to train their community interactively from anywhere in the world.
HIGH COMMENDATION: BIOVIT
With organic vitamins and minerals for fortified foods, BIOVIT provides plant-derived, multi-nutrient blends for a variety of products, from snack bars to beverages — creating a sustainable alternative to synthetic nutrients.
Jarvis (Pension Jar)
By intertwining innovation with empowerment, Jarvis demystifies the future, offering a roadmap that reflects your ambitions and realities. In a world filled with uncertainty, Jarvis emerges as a north star, guiding you towards a retirement shaped by clarity, confidence, and aspiration.
Kaddy Box
Last metre logistics support that ensures secure and convenient deliveries. Kaddy Box is the perfect place to keep post and packages safe when it is not possible to receive them in person.
LEVRA
LEVRA helps businesses solve their growing Human Skills gap by upskilling their employees through immersive learning experiences. LEVRA’s mission is to equip young professionals with the interpersonal communication skills essential for them to succeed and businesses to thrive.
NIQS Tech (Leeds)
NIQS Tech provides actionable insights into glucose levels without the use of needles or drawing blood. Their sole focus is developing a truly non-invasive, continuous, and accurate glucose sensor, which will make regular measurements simpler and encourage effective diabetes management practices
WineFi
WineFi makes investing in wine accessible and as easy as buying a stock. Investors gain access to diversified, expertly-curated collections of fine wine and receive profits when the assets are sold.
Diversity Champion
WINNER: Jenson Funding Partners
Established in 2012, Jenson Funding Partners is a premier venture capital firm in the UK, specialising in early-stage growth investment with a focus on ESG and impact. Their Fund invests in innovative and disruptive early stage businesses and supports them on their journey.
HIGH COMMENDATION: Female Founders Rise
Female Founders Rise is a community of 4500 female and non-binary founders building growth businesses. Their mission – empowering women to build successful businesses together. Connecting female founders throughout the UK. Creating a mega network of incredible women.
Mountside Ventures
Mountside Ventures is Europe’s leading accelerator and early-stage advisory firm. For pre-seed and seed startups, they run investment accelerator programmes. For Series A and Series B companies, they provide interim CFO and fundraising support, enabling them to raise their Next Round of funding faster and more efficiently.
Par Equity
Par Equity is a venture capital investor focused on businesses with global ambitions, and innovative technology at their core. Their model integrates the insights and experiences of industry insiders into every facet of the investment process.
Sapphire Capital Partners
Sapphire Capital Partners are a multi-award-winning investment manager and consultancy based in both London and Belfast. They offer a diverse range of services, including Fund investment management, SEIS and EIS support, Property Funds, Investor documentation and business planning and R&D tax credit application advisory.
SIS Ventures
SIS Ventures is an FCA-regulated venture capital investor with a clear impact investment thesis and framework. They seek to provide investment to innovative, early-stage Scottish companies with global ambitions.
Best SEIS Investment Manager
WINNER: Jenson Funding Partners
Established in 2012, Jenson Funding Partners is a premier venture capital firm in the UK, specialising in early-stage growth investment with a focus on ESG and impact. Their Fund invests in innovative and disruptive early stage businesses and supports them on their journey.
HIGH COMMENDATION: Fuel Ventures
Fuel Ventures is an early-stage investor in early stage technology and digital companies. They invest in and grow great companies with big potential. Their primary focus is on building proven business models in the online and mobile space that has the ability to scale quickly and have international growth potential.
Deepbridge Capital
Their purpose is to provide reassurance to investors by enabling them to invest alongside our team of passionate, experienced and fair-minded specialists. Their ambition is to help their businesses achieve their full potential and thereby provide the best possible outcomes for their investors.
Haatch
Haatch are strategic pre-seed and opportunistic Seed investors that invest in B2B SaaS companies solving deep pains in the present and/or creating massive impact for organisations. They offer both EIS & SEIS funds to investors.
Sapphire Capital Partners
Sapphire Capital Partners are a multi-award-winning investment manager and consultancy based in both London and Belfast. They offer a diverse range of services, including Fund investment management, SEIS and EIS support, Property Funds, Investor documentation and business planning and R&D tax credit application advisory.
SFC Capital
SFC Capital is a leading early-stage investment firm providing capital and support to British startups. They have created a unique model that allows investors to get exposure to SEIS- and EIS-qualifying businesses, either directly or through a diversified portfolio curated and managed by their team of experts.
Symvan Capital
Symvan Capital is a VC firm investing in companies that seek to have a material impact in their industry with the potential to deliver exceptional investment returns within a realistic time frame.
They invest in the best companies at an early stage followed by active mentoring and follow-on funding whilst empowering and guiding the best entrepreneurs.
Velocity Capital Advisors
The Velocity funds invest in exciting, innovative, technology-enabled businesses from Seed to Series A. Velocity are active, not passive investors bringing to bear their own experience as entrepreneurs, financiers, marketeers on the businesses they support.
Best EIS/SEIS Tax Adviser
WINNER: Shoosmiths
Shoosmiths is a law firm clients choose for excellent service, incisive thinking and above all for their ability to focus on what matters. They support some of the world’s most exciting and ambitious businesses. The FT recognises them as one of Europe’s most innovative law firms.
WINNER: Philip Hare & Associates
Philip Hare & Associates LLP is a tax consultancy business which specialises in the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), Seed EIS, Venture Capital Trusts (VCT) and Social Investment Tax Relief (SITR). They advise small and medium sized companies and their investors in respect of the tax relief available for investment and the conditions that need to be met by the company and the investor.
HIGH COMMENDATION: Sapphire Capital Partners
Sapphire Capital Partners are a multi-award-winning investment manager and consultancy based in both London and Belfast. They offer a diverse range of services, including Fund investment management, SEIS and EIS support, Property Funds, Investor documentation and business planning and R&D tax credit application advisory.
CT
Accountants that pride themselves on working in partnership with clients, understanding their business. Their passion isn’t just in numbers. It’s in knowing how they can help. It’s in understanding clients’ financial affairs. And safeguarding them
Finerva
Finerva’s vision is to see the UK as home to the fastest growing companies in the world. We do this by bringing together fast-growing businesses with a trusted network of specialist advisers in finance, accounting, tax and beyond.
Best Financial Planner
WINNER: Andrew Elson, Berry & Oak
Andrew is the founder of Berry & Oak and one of a very small number of Independent Financial Advisers who is both a Chartered Financial Planner and a Certified Financial Planner™ professional. His goal is to help his clients create their financial plan so that they can live the life they want to lead – and then make sure they stay on track and live it!
HIGH COMMENDATION: Adam Young, Smythe House
Adam is Director, Strategic Financial Planning at Smythe House. He works with scale-up businesses and founders contemplating business exits. He offers perspective, clarity, governance, and education to guide them through crucial financial decisions, ensuring they are well-equipped to navigate the complexities of their financial journey.
Francesca Smith, FSWM
Francesca ‘Frankie’ Smith is Founder of FSWM, a Wealth Management and Financial Planning firm working with entrepreneurs, professionals and families with both their personal and business financial planning. Frankie’s role helps people take stock of their finances, validate their thinking or gives a different perspective to consider.
Harry Bell, Charles Stanley
Harry joined Charles Stanley in 2022 as a Director of Financial Planning. He specialises in advising successful professionals, entrepreneurs, and wealthy families on holistic financial matters including wealth structuring, investment management, inheritance tax planning and retirement planning, often working alongside his client’s other professional advisers.
Best EIS Investment Manager
WINNER: Par Equity
Par Equity is a venture capital investor focused on businesses with global ambitions, and innovative technology at their core. Par Equity’s model integrates the insights and experiences of industry insiders into every facet of the investment process.
HIGH COMMENDATION: Praetura Investments
Praetura Investments offer a range of award-winning investments across venture capital, commercial and asset finance which support SMEs across the UK.They believe in offering founders, advisers and investors more than money which means a commitment to creating an unrivalled experience for their investors and advisers.
Deepbridge Capital
Their purpose is to provide reassurance to investors by enabling them to invest alongside our team of passionate, experienced and fair-minded specialists. Their ambition is to help their businesses achieve their full potential and thereby provide the best possible outcomes for their investors.
Guinness Ventures
Guinness Ventures’ investment management team are experts at sourcing opportunities in growth-stage companies and helping them unlock their potential. Their impact goes beyond the financial investment as they use their resources and network to provide the companies that they invest in with the help that they need to grow.
Haatch
Haatch are strategic pre-seed and opportunistic Seed investors that invest in B2B SaaS companies solving deep pains in the present and/or creating massive impact for organisations. They offer both EIS & SEIS funds to investors.
Mercia Asset Management
Mercia is a proactive, specialist asset manager focused on supporting regional businesses to achieve their growth aspirations. They believe that it’s not just about providing capital; it’s also about providing the right type of support and guidance so that their portfolio teams can put that capital to use effectively.
Oxford Capital
Oxford Capital offer individuals and families access to some of the most innovative early- stage companies in the UK. From their base in Oxford they invest in venture capital across the UK and support early-stage companies to fulfil their growth potential.
Symvan Capital
Symvan Capital is a VC firm investing in companies that seek to have a material impact in their industry with the potential to deliver exceptional investment returns within a realistic time frame
Symvan invests in the best companies at an early stage followed by active mentoring and follow-on funding whilst empowering and guiding the best entrepreneurs.
Best Newcomer
WINNER: Empirical Ventures
Empirical Ventures leads pre-seed and seed rounds for deep science startups that are creating century-defining technologies. They invest in scientific breakthroughs that together advance human capability and create financial returns.
HIGH COMMENDATION: Waterspring Ventures
Waterspring Ventures facilitate and fund investments which enable growth for businesses in Wales and the South West of England, unlocking economic benefits for entrepreneurs, employees and local communities.
Caimin Kenny of Sapphire Capital Partners
Caimin assists in the setting up and management of SEIS/EIS investment funds. Currently completing his Bachelor’s degree of Commerce at University College Dublin (UCD). Caimin holds the Investment Management Certificate for the UK Context (IMC) and is an EISA Affiliate.
JP Jenkins
JP Jenkins is the UK’s most established share trading platform for private companies. Their mission is to provide an efficient process of matching willing buyers and sellers of unlisted company shares.
They help companies engage with existing shareholders to manage their private share holding. They help early stage investors realise a return on their paper wealth.
SEEIO
SEEIO is a SaaS governance platform to help private companies thrive and grow.
It tracks metrics and risks, provides a structured record store, automates board agendas and minutes; all of which feeds a contemporaneous data room evidencing good quality governance.
Side by Side Partnership
They invest in fast-growing Consumer Tech and B2B SaaS companies with £1 – £10m in revenue.
Their focus is on partnering with companies that have already commercialised proven technologies and are now seeking to expand their reach into mainstream and international markets.
Volution
Volution are building a dedicated SaaS and FinTech fund. They seek out ambitious teams that have raised Series A and are ready to accelerate their growth to Series B and beyond.
EISA Impact Award
WINNER: Foresight Group with The Foresight WAE Technology EIS Fund
An Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), investing into early-stage, unquoted companies that are developing disruptive technology and pioneering innovation.
HIGH COMMENDATION: SIS Ventures
SIS Ventures is an FCA-regulated venture capital investor with a clear impact investment thesis and framework. SIS Ventures seeks to provide investment to innovative, early-stage Scottish companies with global ambitions.
EMV Capital with DeepTech Recycling
DeepTech Recycling Limited ’s mission is to make plastic sustainable and support the critical global drive towards a circular economy for plastics. DTR’s technology platform converts currently unrecyclable plastic waste into oil that can be used by the petrochemical industry as the feedstock for producing virgin quality plastic.
Mercia Asset Management
Mercia is a proactive, specialist asset manager focused on supporting regional businesses to achieve their growth aspirations. They believe that it’s not just about providing capital; it’s also about providing the right type of support and guidance so that their portfolio teams can put that capital to use effectively.
o2h Ventures
o2h Ventures are a specialist fund that only invests in biotech therapeutics and the intersection between biotechnology and AI/ML. This fund is pivotal in developing the biotech ecosystem in the o2h Group but also has invested into 28 early-stage biotech companies in Great Britain.
OnePlanetCapital
OnePlanetCapital is a Radical venture capital firm focused on unlocking the positive impact of early stage companies as they grow. Their team is spearheading the green industrial revolution and disrupting the status quo to create a positive global impact.
Par Equity with Heliex Power
Heliex Power is a designer and manufacturer of steam screw expanders for the recovery of energy from industrial processes. The company’s clean technology is a patented Twin Screw Turbine technology that generates electricity by harvesting existing steam or waste heat within client’s production processes, enabling heavy machinery and industrial companies to generate their own power sources.
SFC Capital with Pastoral
Pastoral are on a mission to empower farmers globally with state-of-the-art tools and knowledge to transition into regenerative agriculture. Through their innovative software, affordable hardware, and wealth of regenerative farming expertise, they make sustainable livestock farming not just possible but highly profitable.
Best EIS/SEIS Legal or Regulatory
WINNER: RW Blears
RW Blears are a specialist law firm which provides corporate, funds, regulatory and tax advice. They act for emerging and institutional fund managers investing in private capital markets, venture-backed high growth companies, entrepreneurs, platform operators and angel syndicates.
HIGH COMMENDATION: Adempi Associates
Adempi’s compliance consultancy blends smart use of technology, direct access to expertise, and a focus on helping firms to secure real value from their consultancy spend. They work in financial services.
MBM Commercial
MBM are a multi-award-winning independent commercial law firm. They are specialists in corporate transactions with a particular focus on M&A, investment, technology and scale-up. Their team regularly advise on complex matters as part of their clients scaling-up and operating on a global basis.
Michelmores
Law firm Michelmores help businesses and individuals who are navigating change to find a more positive future. Their collaborative, creative and commercial lawyers focus on their clients’ next steps, starting with today’s challenges, but growing success and impact for tomorrow.
SeedLegals
The SeedLegals platform automates tasks to transform the way businesses raise investment, hire and retain talent, and grow faster. They guide, educate and empower startups and small businesses to automate the legals they need, dramatically cutting down the time and expense companies used to spend with traditional lawyers and accountants.
Best EIS Investee Company
WINNER: Carcinotech
Carcinotech is a MedTech company with expertise in manufacturing 3D printed micro-tumours using patient-derived biopsies, primary cells, immune cells and cancer stem cells. Carcinotech’s advanced models provide a platform for rapid, ethical, and accurate drug screening, pre-clinical and personalised medicine testing.
HIGH COMMENDATION: Bright Network
Bright Network’s mission is to provide better matchmaking between employers and graduates. By combining rich data, technology and analytics with their knowledge and insights, they create highly targeted and personalised experiences, interactions and opportunities to connect students and their future employers.
Hexigone
Hexigone Inhibitors manufactures ‘chemically intelligent’ corrosion inhibitors. Intelli-ion® AX1 completely replaces or co-blends with heavy metal, phosphate and toxic chromates with cost-effect, high performance, sustainable anti-corrosive additives.
Neighbourly
Neighbourly is an award-winning giving platform that helps businesses make a positive impact in their communities by donating volunteer time, money and surplus products, all in one place.
Phlo
Phlo are the Digital Pharmacy of the future. They deliver NHS & Private prescriptions directly to patients – when and where they need them.
PlotBox
PlotBox is a cloud based death care management solution that facilitates cemeteries in operating to world class standards. It’s the world’s first solution to fully integrate two previously separate functions – software and mapping.
Previsico
Previsico are surface water flood forecasting specialists enabling people and organisations to minimise the impact of flooding. Previsico’s solution is used by insurers, businesses and government to reduce their losses.
Ryft
A PSD2-compliant payments system, empowering embedded payments with automated payouts. Simplifying complex, multi-sided payments by offering a plug and go end-to-end solution to marketplaces and P2P platforms.
Best EIS/SEIS Advocate
WINNER: SeedLegals
The SeedLegals platform automates tasks to transform the way businesses raise investment, hire and retain talent, and grow faster. They guide, educate and empower startups and small businesses to automate the legals they need, dramatically cutting down the time and expense companies used to spend with traditional lawyers and accountants.
HIGH COMMENDATION: James D’Mello & Katie Hopkin, Fuel Ventures
At Fuel, James leads the IFA/Strategic Partners distribution team.
Katie’s recent focus has been in Tax Efficient Investments both at Platforms and Funds. Katie’s role within the IFA distribution team involves managing relationships with IFAs, wealth managers and financial institutions.
investHER Campaign
Campaign to reverse the income threshold for Angel investors highlighting the disproportionate impact on women and particularly those from ethnic minorities.
Lisa Best
Experienced in writing on tax-advantaged investments, estate planning, peer to peer lending, tax-planning, infrastructure, PPPs and financial services in general.
Olivia Drinnan, Deepbridge Capital
Educating financial professionals on Venture Capital investing through Enterprise Investment Schemes for growth potential and tax reliefs.
Entrepreneur of the Year
WINNER: Ishani Malhotra, Carcinotech
Ishani Malhotra is the CEO and founder of Carcinotech. She was recently recognised as one of the 35 rising stars by Scottish Business Insider under 35, won AccelerateHER 2022 awards for Science and MedTech and won the Female Entrepreneur of the Year award at The Scottish SME Business Awards 2022.
HIGH COMMENDATION: Kate Jarvis, Fifth Dimension AI
Co founder of Fifth Dimension AI Dr. Kate Jarvis is a Large Language Model wizard with a PhD in Linguistics from Stanford University. Spent the past 12 years designing Machine Learning-powered products and bringing them to market, in CPTO roles in varied sectors.
Archie Kevill, Kaddy Box
Francesca Smith, FSWM
Francesca ‘Frankie’ Smith is Founder of FSWM, a Wealth Management and Financial Planning firm working with entrepreneurs, professionals and families with both their personal and business financial planning. Frankie’s role helps people take stock of their finances, validate their thinking or gives a different perspective to consider.
Giovanna Laudisio, Naturbeads
Giovanna is an entrepreneur and innovator with several years of experience in R&D, technology commercialisation and venture building. She is passionate about the role of technology in society and driven by an unwavering belief that all societies and nations should harness its potential, using sustainable materials, technologies and processes.
Sadra Hosseini, Ryft
CEO of Ryft – a unified payment platform designed specifically to power marketplaces and B2B platforms. Ryft processes payments and then automatically diverts funds to merchants and sub-merchants (minus any commissions) the next working day.
Sam Al Mukhtar, Geomiq Limited
Passionate about revolutionising the manufacturing industry delivering high quality manufacturing parts at the best price. “We’re solving a problem we faced every day as engineers by building the platform we always wanted!”
Sean and Leona McAllister, Plotbox
Sean, a graduate in Construction Engineering and Management from Ulster University and a Member of Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, has built a leading edge surveying business utilising the latest drone, software, and camera technology.
Leona holds a Business Studies degree from The University of Ulster and has experience in auditing and governance.
What’s next for the ecosystem?
If you would like to get involved in another event filled with members of the EIS ecosystem, explore our event page here.