Puma Alpha VCT

Managed by Puma Investments, Puma Alpha VCT follows a generalist strategy, investing into scale-up opportunities alongside Puma’s other funds.

It launched in 2019 and has net assets of £30.7 million, split across a portfolio of 20 companies with £5.1 million in cash and cash equivalents (February 2025). The portfolio is highly concentrated, although investments are held across multiple sectors and range from a developer marketplace platform to a cycling apparel business.

In 2022, the VCT achieved its first cash exit with Tictrac, a health engagement platform, delivering a 1.9x return on investment. In the five years to 30 June 2025, the VCT achieved a NAV total return (including dividends) of 3.3%. Past performance is not a guide to the future and dividends are variable and not guaranteed.

• Seeking to raise up to £15 million with an overallotment facility of £5 million
• Targets an average annual dividend of 5p per share – variable and not guaranteed
• Available for the 2025/26 tax year
• Minimum investment £3,000 – you can apply online
• Next deadline: 31 October 2025 (5pm) for allotment in the 2025/26 tax year – not guaranteed

Puma Alpha VCT is managed by Puma Growth Partners, the private equity arm of Puma Investments. Puma has a 27-year track record of investing in small and medium-sized enterprises. In total, it has raised more than £400 million and invested in over 60 qualifying companies, achieving 40 full exits (January 2025) – past performance is not a guide to the future.

The Puma Growth Partners team is headed up by Rupert West, who has 20 years’ investment experience. Rupert is responsible for sourcing and leading investments across Puma’s EIS and VCT offers. He is supported by seven investment professionals. They have access to Puma Investments’ support services, including in-house legal counsel and its senior management team.

The VCT seeks scale-up opportunities: well-managed, established, unquoted companies expected to generate revenues in excess of £2 million, with limited external debt. In 2023, the current portfolio produced average revenues of approximately £3.9 million.

Puma Alpha VCT has a similar investment mandate to the Puma Alpha EIS (launched in 2017) and Puma VCT 13 and will co-invest in many of the same deals. This may help the manager deploy capital swiftly and access opportunities otherwise out of reach for a relatively new VCT.

Puma believes it has a strong pipeline of new deals, thanks to the difficulties SMEs continue to face raising money from traditional banks, alongside Puma’s established network of deal introducers. In the 2024 calendar year, the Puma Investments private equity team analysed more than 580 potential deals.

Pending investment, the manager may invest funds in a range of non-qualifying investments, such as cash, money market funds and listed debt and equities.

The VCT has net assets of £30.7 million, of which £25.6 million is invested in a portfolio of 20 early-stage companies and £5.1 million is held in cash or cash equivalents. The top 10 holdings account for 73% of net assets, so the portfolio is very concentrated, as is often the case with newer, smaller VCTs.

In the 12 months to February 2025, the VCT invested £1.3 million in three new companies, including £0.8 million in Aveni (see below), £0.3 million in NRG Gyms, a chain of affordable, 24/7 gyms, and £0.2 million in Semeris, which combines AI and human expertise to help financial institutions streamline legal document analysis. It also made five follow-on investments – £3.1 million in total.

The portfolio currently has a bias towards logistics technology and financial and insurance technology. The table below shows the sector breakdown by value.

The VCT achieved its first full exit in May 2022 with Tictrac (detailed below), generating a realised gain of c.£551,000. As is to be expected when investing in young companies, the VCT reported its first failure in 2024, writing down three investments to zero. Past performance is not a guide to the future.

As can be expected, not all investments work out. Performance wheel manufacturer Dymag is an example.

Dymag created the first high-end, lightweight carbon-fibre wheels for performance cars and motorbikes, certified for both road and racing use. These were 40% lighter than standard aluminium alloy wheels of the same size.

The company benefitted from strong demand before the Covid-19 pandemic but sales fell during the lockdown restrictions and struggled to recover post-pandemic.

In August 2024, the company was acquired by a German manufacturer of light alloy wheels in a pre-pack deal. Puma Alpha VCT invested a total of £2 million, which has been written down to zero.

The VCT intends to introduce a Dividend Reinvestment Scheme which would allow shareholders to reinvest future dividend payments by subscribing for new shares. As new shares, they should be eligible for tax relief (you will need to claim this on your tax return or directly with HMRC) and will count towards the VCT annual subscription limit.

The board intends to buy back shares at up to a 5% discount to the prevailing net asset value. This is not guaranteed – please see the offer documents for details.

VCT shares are traded on the London Stock Exchange. Similar to investment trusts, the share price can fluctuate and can be different from the VCT’s net asset value (NAV), i.e. the value of the VCT’s underlying investments. The difference between the share price of a VCT, and its net asset value per share, is called a discount.

Based on data from Morningstar, the average discount to NAV as at 30 June 2025 was 1.2%. Over the previous five years the average discount to NAV was -5.2%.

The discount history is based on the closing share price of the VCTs at the end of each month, divided by the latest net asset value at the time. Past performance is not a guide to the future. Investors looking to sell their VCT shares may get a better price using the VCTs’ share buyback facilities, although this is not guaranteed.

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

VCTs 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. 

To retain the tax benefits, VCTs should be held for at least five years. If you sell VCT shares and reinvest in new shares of the same VCT (including any mergers) within six months, tax relief can be restricted. Tax rules can change and benefits depend on circumstances.

Both VCTs have significant exposure to one company, Matillion.

The VCT includes an annual rebate for Wealth Club investors, payable for the first three years. This is a rebate of our renewal commission and should be equivalent to a percentage (shown in the table above) of the Net Asset Value of the Offer Shares issued to you when you invest. Terms and conditions apply.

• Deadline for the 2025/26 tax year: 31 October 2025 (5pm)

The VCT appears to be making good progress towards building up its portfolio, which now includes 20 companies, though it remains very concentrated.

It paid its first dividend in November 2023, following a 1.9x return from its exit of Tictrac (detailed above). Past performance is not a guide to the future. Dividends are variable and not guaranteed. It has also benefitted from early valuation uplifts from its larger holdings, including CameraMatics (detailed above).

Whilst the VCT is still relatively small, it benefits from the resources of the wider Puma Investments business, and is expected to co-invest with Puma VCT 13 and the Puma EIS service which operate similar mandates. This may allow this young VCT to punch above its weight in terms of attracting deal flow and participating in larger funding rounds.

This financial promotion has been communicated and approved by Wealth Club Ltd on 30 June 2025

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.