VCT guide

61 60 PROVIDERS IN FOCUS PROVIDERS IN FOCUS About the provider Blackfinch Group is an award-winning investment specialist with over £300 million in assets under management and administration. Founded on evolutionary principles, Blackfinch continuously adapts to market change, to offer strong solutions. It works in partnership with advisers, delivering value through expertise and high-quality service with a transparent approach. Blackfinch has specialisms in early stage and tax-efficient investing, covering EIS and VCT vehicles. The expert Blackfinch Ventures team enables investment in fast-growing UK companies, supporting start-ups and early stage businesses. Blackfinch co-invests alongside clients, ensuring alignment of interests. Our previous VCT Offers The Blackfinch Spring VCT will be open from October 2019 to 30 October 2020 for investment with a share offer of up to £20 million Ordinary shares and over-allotment facility for a further £10 million. The VCT plans to invest in a diversified range of early stage technology firms operating across sectors. These will be firms that are poised for growth and success and by 2024 we plan to return the profits to investors as tax-free dividends of 5% per annum. Case Study Tended is a technology start-up that designs intelligent personal safety wearables and monitoring systems. Its patent-pending technology uses machine learning to automatically monitor a user’s safety and alert key contacts in the event of an accident or emergency. Now focusing on its commercial offering, Tended has created an enterprise solution which is being used by large organisations to monitor and improve the safety of their workforce.  The passion and drive of the Tended team was evident when they pitched for the first time to Blackfinch Ventures in April 2019. The team had achieved an incredible amount in a very short period, developing a comprehensive platform from hardware to software and landing early commercial trials. Blackfinch Ventures EIS Portfolios made an investment of £810k at the time to help the company through its next stage of growth. This investment has allowed Tended to grow the technology team and hire sales staff. Their supply chain is now well developed, production units are shipping, and revenue is starting to flow from large multinationals. When it launches, Blackfinch Spring VCT will invest in high growth innovative technology companies like Tended. www.blackfinch.com About the platform GrowthInvest is an adviser-focused platform designed to simplify research, investment and reporting on tax-efficient and alternative investments. We provide you with digital solutions that give you choice, control and oversight. We are on a mission to make tax-efficient and private investments more widely accessible to wealth managers, financial advisers, and their clients, through the provision of digital solutions and education in a fast-growing but currently inefficient market. The GrowthInvest platform gives portfolio-level and individual investment analytics across SEIS, EIS, VCT and IHT products. Our VCT service Investing into a diversified portfolio of VCT products has historically been difficult to achieve, which is why we have digitalised the application and administration process to make it as simple as possible. The GrowthInvest VCT service allows you to access a diversified portfolio of high-quality VCT providers, with minimal administrative burden. Using the GrowthInvest platform allows you to access granular online reporting, incorporating tax reliefs and real-time performance analysis across your underlying VCT investments and consolidated portfolio. Case Study One GrowthInvest client, a Surrey-based financial adviser, has been advising a group of high-earning clients on VCTs for over 20 years. Their VCT portfolios range from £150,000 to over £1.5 million, with clients typically investing £50,000 per annum across multiple VCTs. Previously, the management of these portfolios had been paper-driven and inefficient, relying on multiple spreadsheets. Investments were made via multiple paper applications with wet signatures and cheques, and dividends paid directly to the client outside the control of the adviser. Once the adviser started using GrowthInvest, all client portfolios were loaded onto our platform, with VCT holdings transferred into a custody CREST account - removing the need for paper share certificates. Now, the adviser benefits from robust and transparent management of their portfolio. Daily valuations including NAV and Total Return (including dividends and any corporate actions) are just some examples of metrics available online or through downloadable reports. Going forward, all future investments will be made via the GrowthInvest VCT Service using online applications: enabling a single cash transfer for all VCT investments, digital shareholding and dividends flowing back onto the central client account. www.growthinvest.com “Blackfinch Ventures brings access to fresh opportunities, supports companies to develop, and seeks to deliver highly successful outcomes for businesses and investors.” — RICHARD COOK, CEO AND FOUNDER BLACKFINCH GROUP