Jenson SEIS Fund

The fund offers a mixture of new technology investment.

Highlights

• Aims to invest in 8 to 12 investee companies
  
• Target return of 185p per 100p invested (not guaranteed)
• Minimum investment £10,000

The manager

Jenson Funding Partners was founded in 2012. Its SEIS fund launched in 2012, one of first in the market. Since then Jenson has raised over £13.5 million across 100 investments. 

The fund

The SEIS fund aims to focus on innovative and disruptive technology firms. While Jenson will invest across multiple sectors, all prospective companies will be assessed for the following criteria:

1. Momentum
2. Strong concept and strategy
3. A credible management team
4. Business and financial risks
5. Equity deal and exit expectations
   

Jenson provides a support package to investee firms, covering various aspects of financial, sales and marketing, tech and operational support, which is mandatory for the first year and for which the investee company pays. After that, firms can choose whether to use it or not.

Examples of previous portfolio companies

Twizoo – recent exit

Twizoo uses AI technology to automatically capture user-generated content and create real-time reviews. Madeline Parra and John Talbott, the company’s founders, developed the idea after noticing that restaurants received nearly 7x more exposure on social media than on conventional reviewing platforms.

A mobile application, Twizoo scans and analyses real-time conversations to generate user reviews and sentiment. The technology can be applied to something as simple as suggesting popular bars or restaurants to acting as a social media monitoring platform for businesses.

Jenson originally invested £150,000 into the business through its first SEIS fund. The funding was used to launch a beta version of the product and to prove the business model. As a result, the company was acquired by Skyscanner via a trade sale in November 2017. Investors received a significant uplift on their original investment, however, past performance is not a guide to the future.

EBar Initiatives – recent investment

The team at EBar have developed a self-service kiosk that uses patented technology to dispense beer to replace staffed bars at events.

Based in Bridge of Don, founders Sam Pettipher and Nick Beeson claim their technology can dispense two drinks in just 30 seconds. This should cut queues and waiting time for consumers whilst venue operators should benefit from increased sales, reduced staff costs and greater efficiency.

Since launching in 2016, the EBar has been trialed at Premier League Football matches and at Six Nations Rugby events. Furthermore, the company announced this year that it will be collaborating with Heineken UK to improve its technology. 

Jenson SEIS invested as part of a £300,000 funding round alongside Scottish investors, Equity Gap and Gabriel Investment Syndicate.

Tapfuse

As is to be expected with young companies, not all succeed.

Jenson EIS and SEIS Fund 2 originally invested into Tapfuse, a mobile application developer, in 2015. The business created multi-platform applications so that information could be shared in professional and educational institutions.

The business started positively, gaining a number of potential clients and developing a strong sales pipeline. However, it lost momentum due to the founder's personal circumstances. Jenson investigated possible options once it became clear the founder no longer wished to continue with the business but ultimately struggled to find a viable alternative.

Eventually, Jenson was outvoted by Tapfuse’s other shareholders, and the business was put into administration in December 2018.

Target return

The target return is 185p per 100p invested, which is not guaranteed. As is the nature of early stage investing, the investee companies that succeed may deliver returns many times that of the initial investment. The flip side is that some of the companies are almost certain to fail. Realistically, as many of the companies will be early stage, exits are largely expected from trade sales rather than from flotations. Exit is expected in five to seven years, although this is not guaranteed.

Performance

Jenson has successfully exited five companies from its first two SEIS funds. In total it has made 100 investments, of these, 34 are no longer trading. Please note: past performance is not a guide to the future.

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 / SEIS investments are high-risk so should only form part of a balanced portfolio and you should not invest money you cannot afford to lose. They also tend to be illiquid and hard to sell and value. Before you invest, please carefully read the Risks and Commitments and the offer documents to ensure you fully understand the risks. 

Tax rules can change and benefits depend on circumstances.

This EIS / SEIS fund invests in early-stage businesses which are more likely to fail than larger ones. So you should expect a number of failures in the portfolio.

Charges & savings

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.

Wealth Club aims to make it easier for experienced investors to find information on – and apply for – tax-efficient investments. You should base your investment decision on the provider's documents and ensure you have read and fully understand them before investing. This review is a marketing communication. It is not advice or a personal or research recommendation to buy the investment mentioned. It does not satisfy legal requirements promoting investment research independence and is thus not subject to prohibitions on dealing ahead of its dissemination.