EIS Industry Report 2019/20

53 52 DEEPBRIDGE DEEPBRIDGE TECHNOLOGY GROWTH ABOUT THE MANAGER Deepbridge was founded with the aim of building an investment team that could redefine tax- incentivised growth-focused risk capital. Our purpose is to provide reassurance to investors by enabling them to invest alongside our team of passionate and experienced domain specialists. A genuine blend of skillsets from a cohesive team that know what it is like to run a business and who have a balanced approach between strong management, practical experience, and demonstrable governance. Deepbridge believes in supporting, mentoring, and investing alongside energetic, committed, and highly performing management teams. Our ambition is to help these businesses achieve their full potential and thereby provide the best possible outcomes for our investors. We promote a culture of professional excellence and integrity which characterises all that we do. We aim to bring incremental value to investee companies through our experience of building growth businesses, involving our technology advisers and industry partners. OUR EIS OFFER The Deepbridge Technology Growth EIS provides an opportunity for investors to participate in a portfolio of actively-managed growth- focused technology companies, taking advantage of the potential EIS tax reliefs available. With a diversi ed portfolio of companies seeking commercialisation and expansion funding, the Deepbridge Technology Growth EIS invests in growth companies that possess a technology that is post-proof of concept, with robust intellectual property, and which are operating in a high growth market sector. It is focused on investing in growth-focused companies that are seeking to commercialise and expand, speci cally in three sectors: • Energy & resource innovation • Medical technology • IT-based technology Deepbridge takes an active role (not just a non-executive board seat) to guide, mentor and counsel the management team of the investee company. The provision of hands-on operational experience, combined with nancial expertise can seek to materially mitigate the investment risk borne by the investor. INVESTMENT CASE STUDY Arbnco Ltd is a technology innovator operating in the competitive field of real estate energy efficiency analysis and improvement modelling, and has developed a suite of proprietary software that provides in-depth analysis of energy consumption, along with recommendations for improving energy efficiency for commercial real estate of all kinds. With this information, end-users are able to take positive steps to improve the energy performance of their estate holdings, increasing its value and ensuring compliance with UK and EU regulations on building energy efficiency and emissions. The company has a suite of solutions, all related to its core activity of real estate energy performance analysis and reporting: Arbn Consult; Arbn Estates; Arbn Energy; and Arbn Well. Deepbridge has invested £6.4m to date, assisting the company’s product development and client acquisition activities, such as with M&G Real Estate, TH Real Estate and the University of California. DEEPBRIDGE EIS FUNDS RAISED IN 2018/19 % EIS FUNDS DEPLOYED IN 2018/19 TAX YEAR £29m 100% Deepbridge manages the Deepbridge Technology Growth EIS, the Deepbridge Life Sciences EIS, the Deepbridge Innovation SEIS and the Deepbridge Life Sciences SEIS SENECA SENECA EIS PORTFOLIO SERVICE ABOUT THE PROVIDER Seneca Partners is a specialist investment and corporate advisory business based in the North of the UK. Launched in 2010, Seneca provides equity and debt funding to UK SMEs, helping business owners to both finance their growth and realise value on exit either via trade sale, flotation or restructuring. With over £750m of AUM across the various Seneca businesses, Seneca are long standing EIS and private equity investors with a strong track record of value realisation for investors. Based in the North West of England, Seneca’s strong regional presence extends from the Midlands up to Lancashire and Yorkshire. This regional presence provides Seneca with access to high quality and unique investment opportunities, many of which are only available to Seneca’s investors. OUR EIS OFFER Seneca’s EIS Portfolio Service invests growth capital in established businesses. Seneca has received more than £80 million of investment into its range of EIS products and services, with its flagship EIS Portfolio Service accounting for more than £60 million of this. To date, c. £60 million has been deployed in over 80 investments with c. £10 million of this in the last 12 months. The Service targets a return of £1.60 to £1.80p per £1 invested excluding any tax reliefs over a 5-year period. Each subscription will be invested in 4-6 companies and ordinarily will have a mix of unquoted and AIM-quoted holdings, building a diverse portfolio across a number of sectors. The Service has so far exited 9 investments with an average return of 2.5x (before fees) and 2x (after all costs but excluding tax reliefs). INVESTMENT CASE STUDY Seneca invested £1 million of EIS growth capital into Rockar in August 2014, to facilitate a retail rollout and further development and enhancement of its market leading ecommerce software platform. The business, the first of its kind in the auto industry, allows customers to research, test-drive, purchase and service a new car without sales team involvement. The expansion plans have subsequently been supported through a £5 million funding round in July 2016, at significantly enhanced valuation to Seneca’s entry point, with two established VCT managers investing via a process led by the Seneca Corporate Finance team. This has enabled the business to partner with additional car manufacturers who are now using Rockar’s market leading software solution to launch their own online car retail solution and the management team remain very optimistic about Rockar’s future prospects. Seneca has played an active advisory role since initial investment, supporting management with key strategic and commercial decisions. GROWTH CAPITAL FUNDS RAISED AND DEPLOYED “The best EIS fund managers are those that can add strategic value and direction, without restricting entrepreneurial flair.” — JOHN DAVIES, SENECA PARTNERS £20,000,000 £30,000,000 £40,000,000 £50,000,000 £60,000,000 £10,000,000 £0 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 RAISED (GROSS) DEPLOYED (NET)