Calculus Knowledge Intensive EIS Fund II

Calculus Capital launched the first EIS fund in 1999, giving the management team one of the longest track records in the EIS industry. Since adopting its current strategy in 2013/14, the Calculus EIS fund has invested £160.4 million into 56 companies. These investments have generated exit proceeds and dividends worth £106.6 million, with a remaining portfolio balance of £112.6 million. 

This is the second ‘KI-approved fund’ iteration of the Calculus EIS Fund. As it closes this tax year investors should be able to obtain tax relief for 2023/24 and have the option to carry back to 2022/23 (tax rules can change and benefits depend on circumstances). The Fund seeks to invest in companies operating within the technology and healthcare sectors, but unlike the EIS fund will not invest in the entertainment sector. 

• Approved KI EIS fund
• Tax certificates expected within c.24 months from the close date 
  
• Target return of 2x over 4-7 years – not guaranteed 
• Targets a portfolio of at least six companies
• Minimum investment of £25,000 

The manager

Calculus Capital’s CEO, John Glencross, and Executive Chairman, Susan McDonald, made their first EIS investment in 1996. They founded Calculus Capital in 1999 and shortly after launched the UK’s first approved EIS fund. The same investment team now manages £140 million in tax-efficient investments, across its EIS funds and VCT. 

The investment team is co-led by Alexander Crawford and Richard Moore who are responsible for sourcing and executing new deals, as well as advising portfolio companies. They are supported by a team of six, including Dominic Harris, who acts as Head of Portfolio Management and Life Sciences specialist and Investment Director Elizabeth Klein. 

Before your subscription is invested, the cash will be held by Calculus as the custodian. Calculus also acts as the nominee after investment. 

Investment strategy

The Calculus Knowledge Intensive EIS Fund II follows a broadly similar investment strategy to its sister fund the Calculus EIS Fund – albeit without a focus on the entertainment sector.

It targets revenue-generating companies with proven products and established business models, managed by an adaptable and experienced management team and with a clear route to exit. 

The investment team targets fast-growing areas of the technology and healthcare sectors, where it believes the most compelling opportunities can be found. 

A large proportion of investments come from Calculus’s investor base and management teams it has successfully backed in the past. Calculus Capital also benefits from its longstanding industry experience and its investment team’s networks of lawyers, advisers, and brokers. 

On average, the investment team assesses over 700 deals a year with 1-2% of these making it through the selection process. When reviewing a deal, Calculus conducts its own comprehensive research then brings in external parties for in-depth financial, legal, and commercial due diligence.

Once investments are made, Calculus aims to mitigate risk with a “hands-on” approach. Calculus usually takes a board seat and will monitor performance closely through monthly management accounts. The manager also encourages portfolio companies to adopt strategies aligned with a transition to a more sustainable economy, including reducing energy consumption and promoting high standards of business ethics. 

Portfolio

Since adopting its current strategy in 2013/2014, the Calculus EIS Fund has invested £160.4 million into 56 companies (October 2023).

Investors in the Calculus KI EIS Fund II can expect a portfolio of at least six companies, split between the technology and healthcare sectors. The first iteration, launched in 2022/23, has so far invested £3.3 million into five companies (February 2024).

The companies outlined below are investments made by the previous iteration of the Calculus KI EIS Fund and give a flavour of the types of companies a new investor might expect but are unlikely to be a part of a new investor’s portfolio.

Tagomics

A spinout from the University of Birmingham, Tagomics has developed a novel diagnosis platform for monitoring diseases. 

Insights from the study of genomics (mutation and gene alterations), epigenomics (chemical switches that turn genes on or off), and fragmentomics (presence of DNA fragments in blood) may have the potential to unlock new understanding of diseases and potential treatments.

All three methods can be used to detect biomarkers – molecules often associated with a specific condition or abnormality. However, these types of tests are often expensive and difficult to interpret based on existing technologies.

Tagomics believes its approach offers a simple and accurate alternative that combines “omics” technology into a single streamlined process. From a single blood test, the company can screen for early signs of cancer as well as the tissue of origination. Ultimately, this could enable clinicians to make more informed treatment decisions and improve patient outcomes. 

Calculus led a £6.7 million funding round in February 2024 and invested £676,000 through the Calculus KI EIS Fund. The investment is expected to go towards accelerating further research and product development. 

Thanksbox (trading as Mo)

Mo is an employee reward and recognition platform that makes it easier for busy managers to recognise and connect with their teams.

The platform looks to boost employee engagement and retention by making “recognition a habit”. Its Boosts service helps managers establish automated prompts to encourage team members to share recent achievements or positive news. Managers can keep track of recent posts, making it simple to share and recognise individual achievements with gift cards from some of the world’s most popular brands. 

Mo is used in over 45 countries and works will well-known organisations including William Hill, OVO Energy, and NHS trusts. 

The Calculus KI EIS Fund invested £656,000 in January 2024. 

Avvio – example of previous exit

Avvio is a B2B software-as-as-service (SaaS) company that has developed an AI-powered booking engine for the travel industry, as well as providing digital marketing and web design services. Its technology allows hotels to grow their direct bookings, cutting fees payable to third-party travel agents and improving user experience in the hope of growing repeat customers. 

The company’s booking engine, allora, is used by over 500 hotels around the world, powering £400 million in transactions every year. In the 12 months to March 2022, the company generated revenues of €10.7 million and operating profits of €3.5 million.

Calculus initially invested £3.25 million through the EIS fund in November 2014, building its stake to £3.5 million through follow-on funding. In November 2022, Calculus sold its entire stake to US company SHR – a portfolio company of private equity group Serent Capital which specialises in enterprise software and tech-enabled services – achieving a 5.5x return on its investment. Past performance is not a guide to the future. 

Arcis Biotechnology Holdings – example of previous failure 

As is to be expected, not all investments work out, an example is Arcis Biotechnology Holdings (“Arcis”).

Arcis developed advanced DNA sampling technology to extract DNA and RNA from human, animal and plant samples in under three minutes. The technology used a process designed to help preserve inherently fragile genetic material such as RNA. Among early successes were a licence agreement with multi-billion dollar New York-listed company Teleflex Inc. to develop a quicker bedside test for sepsis.

Calculus invested a total of £5.6 million through its EIS Fund, with the Calculus VCT also investing. However, Arcis’s portfolio of technologies did not translate into material commercial opportunities. Calculus’ investment was written down to nil. 

Performance

The first Calculus KI EIS Fund made its first investment in September 2023, so it does not yet have a 12-month performance track record. 

The chart below shows the performance of the Calculus EIS fund, which follows a similar investment strategy. The Calculus EIS fund has invested £160.4 million in 56 companies since adopting its current strategy in 2013/14. There have been 24 exits, of which 11 were profitable with an average exit multiple of 2.8x. Exits proceeds and dividends total £106.5 million, and the remaining portfolio is valued at £112.6 million. Dividends are variable and not guaranteed.

To date media/entertainment businesses, which will not feature in the Knowledge Intensive fund, have accounted for 5.5% of the EIS fund by investment cost.

The chart below shows the average performance of the total subscribed into the funds each in each full tax year from 2012/13 (or from when the current strategy was adopted if later) to 2022/23. The chart is based on the latest valuations provided by the manager, expressed on a £100 invested basis. Please note, individual investor portfolios’ performance will deviate from the average. 

Performance of Calculus EIS funds per £100 invested in each tax year

Risks – important

This, like all investments available through Wealth Club, is only for experienced investors happy to make their own investment decisions without advice. 

EIS investments are high-risk and should only form part of a balanced portfolio. As must be expected with early-stage investments, some or even all of the companies in the portfolio could fail: the fewer the companies included in the portfolio, the higher the risk of loss if things don’t go to plan. You should not invest money you cannot afford to lose.

There is no ready market for unlisted EIS shares: they are illiquid and hard to sell and value. There will need to be an “exit” for you to receive a realised return on your investment. Exits are likely to take considerably longer than the three-year minimum EIS holding period; equally, an exit within three years could impact tax relief.

To claim tax relief, you will need EIS3 certificates, normally issued once shares have been allotted. This can take several months: please check the deployment timescales carefully. Tax reliefs depend on the portfolio companies maintaining their EIS-qualifying status. Remember, tax rules can change and benefits depend on circumstances.

Before you invest, please carefully read the Risks and Commitments and the offer documents to ensure you fully understand the risks. 

Charges

A summary of the main charges and savings is shown below. Some of these will be payable by the investor, whilst others by the investee companies. The investment may have additional charges and expenses: please see the provider documents, including the Key Information Document, for more details.

The initial charge consists of a 2% transaction fee and a non-advised investor set-up fee of 1%.

Our view

While this is only the second iteration of Calculus’ Knowledge Intensive funds, Calculus is one of the longest-standing EIS fund managers. The fund follows an investment strategy that has been well rehearsed within the existing Calculus EIS fund and VCT. The KI Fund structure has the added advantage of greater clarity on the timing of income tax relief and a single tax certificate.

Calculus’s well established market position has helped the team raise and deploy a sizeable amount of capital in the last 20 years. Many of those investments have been successfully exited, resulting in a stream of realised returns – past performance is not a guide to the future.

Wealth Club aims to make it easier for experienced investors to find information on – and apply for – investments. You should base your investment decision on the offer documents and ensure you have read and fully understand them before investing. The information on this webpage is a marketing communication. It is not advice or a personal or research recommendation to buy any of the investments mentioned, nor does it include any opinion as to the present or future value or price of these investments. It does not satisfy legal requirements promoting investment research independence and is thus not subject to prohibitions on dealing ahead of its dissemination.