Member Directory

Vala is an investment advisory business founded by a team of serial, multi-exited entrepreneurs that over a 30+ year period has invested in more than 70 companies and generated an aggregate track record of 3.5x with an average hold period of 4.5 years.

Vala’s mission is to back, build and embolden start-ups that can have an impact in their markets and on society, supporting them on their sustainability journey at the same time.  It believes that companies that focus on operating and trading more sustainably will be more robust and valuable that those that don’t.

Vala aims to put capital to work where it’s needed most: mentoring founders, optimising products, creating go-to market strategies, and bringing together outstanding teams. A key part of the philosophy is the desire for the portfolio companies to become more sustainable, no matter what their sector.

Vala has two principle EIS strategies, focussed on venture building and impact, building diversified portfolios of 8-12 companies. It targets a fund-level return of 2.5x (excluding the tax benefits), over a 6-8 year period.

Validaid is a two-sided platform that aligns vetted impact organisations with impact investors, allowing for tax-efficient transactions and reports on the impact being made.

Acting like a crowdfunding platform for purpose, Validaid brings collaborative funders together for a common goal or purpose, the platform currently lists and vets the work of almost 2M non-profits and social enterprises and integrates with donor-advised funds, financial services and company CRM software.

Validaid brings a mix of local and international blended finance from donors, foundations, donor-advised funds (DAF), employers/employees and individuals who wish to support organisations making a difference to society, in particular relating to the sustainable development goals (SDG).

SERVICES INCLUDE:

Vetted non-profit & social enterprise portal tagged to SDGs.
Tax-efficient lending, investments and donations.
API-integrated Risk Analysis.
Increased international transaction efficiency.
Enriched customer experience.
Impact reporting.
Better data-driven decision making.
Improve Environmental, Social & Governance Performance.
Strengthened security.

Founded in 2015, Velocity looks to invest in high capital appreciation digital distribution business providing value beyond the provision of capital. For the businesses that the fund looks to invest in, there is a point in time when marketing becomes their largest expense. Getting it right can be transformational for these businesses, whilst getting it wrong can be a very costly mistake. Through the significant experience of the founders of Velocity, support in and around marketing provides a cornerstone of value-add provided to investee companies, although it is by no means limited to this. Each potential fund investment goes through a rigorous six-stage selection process, which includes an assessment of market need, given that there being insufficient market need for a particular product or service is, according to CBInsights, the second most common reason why businesses fail. Velocity has a multidisciplinary team with a balance between those with entrepreneurial experience (having started, scaled and exited businesses) and professional experience including fund management, accountancy and law. Our view is that the breadth of team experience enables us to provide holistic support to the businesses we invest in, providing them with an unfair advantage and thereby a greater likelihood of success.

Univy is an edtech platform designed to help anyone create, manage, and sell their videos as digital courses.

Creators simply upload their videos, and within minutes, their courses are hosted and ready to go live on the Univy marketplace.

Unlike existing platforms, which often aren’t built specifically for video-based courses and can be technically complex, Univy is streamlined and user-friendly.

Creators don’t need any technical expertise; they just follow a few straightforward steps, and their courses can be live in under 10 minutes, with Univy managing the marketplace sales for them.

An initial friends’ SEIS round supported the launch of Univy’s MVP, enabling the onboarding of 20 creators and generating early revenue.

Additionally, Univy has secured advanced assurance for both SEIS and EIS, paving the way for the funding round, which opens very shortly, to support further growth.

Backing founders during the crucial early stages of scaling-up, Volution paves the way for substantial growth and a successful exit. Our aim is to enable more UK companies reach global scale.

We are a team of experienced investors, former operators and exited founders. We know how to back, build, scale and exit early-stage Fintech and SaaS businesses. With extensive industry experience and a well-established, wide-reaching network, we’re dedicated to making venture better for both founders and investors. Our goal is to enable early-stage companies to achieve growth, global expansion and a significant exit.

 The Volution Elevate EIS fund will leverage our established platform, experienced team, deal structuring expertise and deep understanding of venture market dynamics and to build a portfolio of high-growth B2B software and Fintech companies, with the potential to scale and become major players in their respective markets, as future category leaders.

Wiggin LLP is a full service media law firm specialising in music, film, TV, broadcast, digital media, sport, betting and gaming, technology and publishing. The firm works with a variety of media clients, from leading industry names to innovative start-ups and entrepreneurs. Wiggin LLP has considerable expertise in setting up EIS schemes acting for both investors and the EIS company. Licensing of intellectual property where the value has been created by the company is expressly allowed under the EIS, thereby enabling companies in the media sector such as TV and film production to qualify. Our advice ranges from obtaining HMRC pre-clearance to structuring the arrangements (including all necessary documentation) and establishing EIS Funds – whether HMRC approved or not (including all regulatory aspects). Sue Crawford is a partner and head of the Tax group. Internationally-recognised as a leader in corporate tax, Sue has particular expertise in the tax issues confronting the film, media, leisure and gaming industries including inward/outward investment to/from the UK.

At Wilson Partners, we’re passionate about SME businesses and their owners.

We’re accountants and tax advisers by trade, but also a group of ambitious entrepreneurs and business enthusiasts that exists to provide the first-class information, analysis and advice that empowers our clients to make optimal financial decisions to achieve the best outcomes, and help them achieve their goals and priorities.

We help businesses at every stage of their journey, from foundation to exit – whether it’s general accounting, strategic planning, tax, audit, valuation, acquisition or anything in between.

Bhavika leads our Enterprise Investment Scheme and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme offering advising companies on S/EIS matters both in a technical/advisory context and overseeing the mechanics of compliance-based services e.g. obtaining advance assurance from HMRC, assisting with S/EIS certification and ongoing tax compliance.
Her significant experience means she provides a holistic approach to advising entrepreneurs and their companies, supporting all key tax specialist areas including personal tax, corporation tax (compliance and advisory), Due Diligence, R&D and Employment Related Securities (both EMI valuations and compliance). Over the last 10+ years, she has worked extensively with incubators and accelerators; particularly early-stage tech start-ups and scale-ups, supporting many to successful exits to well-known brands including Apple, Motorola, Google, Twitter/X and Spotify.

Wilson Wright is a dynamic, central London firm of accountancy professionals who act for a diverse range of UK and international clients drawn from a plethora of professions and industries. We have 8 partners and over 65 members of staff. We believe our success is due to our client relationships, excellent service and strong partnership network.

Emma Brown heads up the Tax Advisory team at Wilson Wright and has vast expertise in the SEIS and EIS space, helping both start up and mature business achieve EIS qualifying status. We help businesses structure their affairs in an S/EIS friendly manner and continue to support them through their 3 year qualifying period and beyond.

Woodside is a leading administrator of EIS funds offering receiving agent, custodial, nominee and fund administration services to fund managers and EIS promoters and currently has over £800m of assets under administration. Woodside also offers similar services to a wide range of clients including VCTs, crowdfunding platforms, IHT products and ISA managers.

Through the extended group Woodside can also offer registrar, company secretarial, accounting and tax services, and provides an efficient EIS administration service, submitting EIS1/SEIS1 applications and issuing EIS3/SEIS3 forms to investors. The wide range of services allow solutions to be tailored to clients’ specific and variable requirements.

Woodside Corporate Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is part of the global Tricor Group which provides outsourced expertise in corporate, business and investor services, enabling clients to concentrate on what they do best – building their business.

YouConvey is a first of its kind collaborative conveyancing service, helping to make moving house easier than it has ever been, saving home movers up to 8 weeks’ and putting them in control of their conveyancing. The modern service uses streamlined conveyancing methods and digital transactions to make the process as quick and simple as it can be, with customers assigned a Home Mover Advisor to guide them every step of the way.

The start-up is the brainchild of Eddie Goldsmith, a well-known national conveyancer of over 40 years, who launched the business with the aim of working with home movers. Having qualified as a solicitor back in 1979, Eddie was responsible for building one of the largest conveyancing firms in the UK and throughout his career experienced first-hand the length of time it takes to complete a home sale and how stressful the experience can be.

Eddie launched YouConvey early 2022 with the aim to revolutionise the industry by shortening timescales and to make the process much less stressful.