Member Directory

Verv is on a mission to help companies hit their ESG goals and reach Net Zero by focussing on one of the biggest consumers of electricity in buildings – Air Con. Air conditioning systems are wasting up to 45% of their energy! Verv is a Cleantech business that develops innovative IoT products that delivers unique data insights into the efficiency of Air Conditioning systems and Heat Pumps. Using sophisticated high speed energy analysis, Verv is able to provide a wealth of information about usage and pinpoint optimisations, assess the quality of the electricity supply and monitor the efficiency of the overall system.

Growthdeck is a private investor network that provides direct, tax-efficient investment opportunities in exciting UK companies.

We offer both equity and debt options, focusing on fundraises between £500k and £3m, and give High Net Worth and Sophisticated investors in the UK and overseas the chance to invest from £5,000.

We have raised funding for fast-growing SMEs across a wide range of sectors, including hospitality and leisure, technology, biopharmaceuticals and telecoms.

Our core team have decades of combined experience in the private equity and venture capital arena as well as a variety of other investment sectors, and our in-depth due diligence process draws upon the best elements of this.

Our Chairman and Head of Investment, Kieron Launder, has worked across a number of leading institutions, including Rothschild & Co where he headed up the strategic investment advisory service.

The other members of our executive management team and board also have a strong track record, with several having founded other private investor businesses in the past before bringing all their expertise together to create Growthdeck.

Daniel was a founding investor in GrowthInvest and Chairman of the Investment Committee since 2012. He became Managing Director in late 2014. Prior to this he worked in finance for nearly 20 years, managing institutional and private funds focusing on equities and derivatives. Daniel managed the UK division of Van der Moolen Equities AG and more recently founded the equity derivatives boutique Ten Derivatives LLP

GrowthInvest is a unique, independent platform which provides access to tax efficient investments to a growing network of UK financial advisers, wealth managers and investors. The Platform aims to bring the advantages of early stage investing to a wider audience of investors and advisers, who are in a position to benefit from the higher returns these companies potentially offer and tax efficiency via government sponsored schemes. The purpose-built technology allows clients to consolidate, control and enhance their investment portfolio within a single, secure online portal. Originally founded by financial advisers in 2012 as the Seed EIS Platform, the company rebranded as GrowthInvest in October 2016 in order to better reflect the wider range of products and services available.

Guinness Ventures is the sister company to Guinness Global Investors (both from the Guinness Asset Management stable) and was founded in 2010.

Trusted by investors to grow their capital, our award-winning investment management team are experts at sourcing opportunities in growth-stage companies and helping them unlock their significant potential

Being truly invested in the success of the businesses we back, our impact goes beyond the financial investment as we use our resources and network to provide the companies that we invest in with the help that they need to grow.

We look for exciting and interesting businesses that we believe have potential for growth across a wide range of sectors including technology, education, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, leisure and food & drink.

Since inception, Guinness Ventures has invested £300 million into more than 180 EIS qualifying companies including some of the fastest growing growth companies in the UK.

Haatch Ventures is made up of a team of hands-on value creators. They have been there. Built scaled companies of their own and sold them. They use that knowledge, experience and network to accelerate the growth of their portfolio businesses via a “Smart Money” approach, providing support to enable digital transformation. They back the pioneers of the digital revolution, one early stage start up at a time.

Over the last seven years the team has been investing, supporting and managing their own private and EIS fund portfolio of digital companies, hand selected through a world class deal pipeline and the current portfolio has average ROI of 5.60x based on the latest third party fund raising round for each company. The target return on exit is 10x.

Founded over twenty years ago, Hardman & Co is an FCA registered firm, with a long established reputation for quality independent research on small and mid-cap companies and funds. The firm has a pool of highly experienced analysts with an average 27 years researching a broad range of sectors. It is also recognised for its work in valuing businesses for corporate due diligence and as an expert witness. Hardman & Co now provides investors and advisers with comprehensive reports covering, EIS, VCT and IHT offerings.

Hardman & Co’s approach to EIS and related products uses its extensive knowledge and experience to understand what each provider and product is aiming to achieve and the associated risks. Each review provides comprehensive research, including investment process, fee structures, performance attribution and risk analysis. In particular, this work addresses the concerns that the FCA has raised about concentration on ‘tax efficiency’ by other research providers.

We provide the information that enables advisers to speak to their clients on tax enhanced products with confidence.

Howard Kennedy is a leading law firm providing a full range of services to a well-established national and international client base. The firm acts for major corporate organisations, public and private companies, financial institutions and private individuals, and are known as a can do.

Established over 23 years ago, Howden Asset Management is now the largest specialist insurance broking team in your sector. Our strength lies in our team, which delivers the best possible outcome for our clients by expertly applying their industry and product knowledge in a streamlined and transparent way while simultaneously being supported by an extraordinary group on an international scale.

Our team is made up of over 55 dedicated experts in London with over 500 years of combined industry experience servicing a book of over 2,000 clients. Across the Asset Management team and wider Howden Group, we have experts that can deliver multi-product and bespoke insurance solutions to help you protect yourself, your business and your employees.

Infinity offers a range of services, including Fund Services, Regulatory Umbrella Hosting, and Corporate Advice.
We take a hands-on approach, combining professionalism with flexibility to create tailored solutions for a wide range of regulated entities. With a wealth of experience in regulated activities and working with different types of entities, SEIS/EIS structures, and Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), we know how to navigate this space. Our leadership team all started in corporate finance advisory roles before moving into fund management, where we’ve raised, invested, and exited numerous funds. This background allows us to assist through every stage of a funds life cycle—from starting out and dealing with regulatory aspects to a successful exit.

Through our Regulatory Hosting (Umbrella) solution, we help entities operate safely within a regulated environment, supported by our knowledgeable team.

At Infinity, we offer a full suite of services, from fund management and regulatory hosting to consultancy, compliance, accounting, and legal support. This mix of expertise has helped us build a solid international reputation for delivering high quality, comprehensive solutions.

With solid investment and asset management experience and strong governance, we work closely with our partners and clients to add value.

Our journey started when we identified that the process of assessing affordability for customers in debt was broken and causes significant damage to people’s lives, their mental health, their relationships and their life prospects. Problem debt is a growing ‘societal disease,’ with 2.5 million people having considered committing suicide due to their debts during the pandemic. Growing chat-bot usage to tackle this problem is causing customers frustration, as the outcomes and support they obtain from this is inconsistent.

Inicio AI has built a next gen conversational AI driven affordability tool that helps customers in debt complete an Income & Expenditure (I&E) assessment.

We use next generation conversational AI to guide a user through the I&E form when and how it suits them. More customers are able to complete this usually tricky process as they get the support they need from a virtual assistant which avoids the shame they experience when explaining their situation to another human. Our solution ensures higher quality data, preventing errors and fraud and can reduce agent costs by up to 90%, so it is also commercially viable.

Intelligent Partnership is the UK’s leading provider of education and insights on alternative investments. They deliver CPD accredited research, training and events to a community of financial services and investment professionals. They publish the annual EIS industry report and organise EIS masterclass events to promote best practice when advising in this area.

IFAs and Wealth Managers make up the majority of their 3,500 subscribers, all of whom are interested or active in alternative investments. Their aim is to increase awareness and engagement amongst intermediaries, providing them with the tools and information they need to speak knowledgeably with their clients about the whole investment universe.