Coming soon
In August 2025 the board of the VCT announced its intention to launch a new offer for subscription in mid-late September 2025 to raise up to £50 million with an overallotment facility of up to £20 million. Details are expected to be published at launch.
You will be able to download documents and apply online here.
Puma VCT 13 is a generalist trust, seeking scale-up opportunities and co-investing alongside other Puma funds. It first issued shares under the current structure in July 2018.
The VCT has net assets of £165.9 million, and a portfolio of 23 companies (February 2025). The portfolio is spread across multiple sectors, ranging from a global influencer marketing agency to a travel accessibility platform.
Over the five years to 30 June 2025, the VCT has generated a NAV total return (including dividends) of 41.3%. Past performance is not a guide to the future and dividends are variable and not guaranteed.
- Targeting an average annual dividend of 5p per share – variable and not guaranteed
- Minimum investment £3,000
Important: The information on this website is for experienced investors. It is not a personal recommendation to invest. If you’re unsure, please seek advice. Investments are for the long term. They are high risk and illiquid and can fall as well as rise in value: you could lose all the money you invest.
The manager
Puma VCT 13 is managed by Puma Investments and advised by its Private Equity arm, Puma Growth Partners.
Puma has a 29-year track record of investing in small and medium-sized enterprises. In total, it has invested more than £350 million in 65 qualifying companies and achieved more than 40 full exits – please note, past performance is not a guide to the future (January 2025).
The Puma Private Equity team is headed up by Rupert West, who has nearly 20 years’ investment experience and is responsible for sourcing and leading VCT and EIS investments. He is supported by nine investment and portfolio professionals (five investment directors, one investment manager and three investment executives). They have access to Puma Investments’ support services, including in-house legal counsel and its senior management team.
Meet the manager: Rupert West, Puma VCT 13
Investment strategy
Puma is sector agnostic, preferring to focus on the stage of a business instead.
The VCT favours scale-up opportunities, rather than startups: well managed, established, unquoted companies with a clear market fit, typically generating revenues of £2 million or more.
The investment team believes that companies at a similar stage of growth tend to face similar problems. Therefore, by focusing solely on scale-ups, the VCT can share its experience and help companies navigate common pitfalls while creating sector diversity within the portfolio.
Puma looks to add value by establishing best practices, supporting strategy refinement and networking opportunities through Puma’s Senior Management and CFO Clubs.
Puma sources the majority of its deals through its established network of corporate advisers and entrepreneurs. However, it also conducts outbound enquiries to identify its own deal flow and help the team maintain a wider perspective.
Given the similarity in investment strategy, it is expected that Puma VCT 13 will co-invest with Puma Alpha VCT and Puma Alpha EIS on the majority of its investments.
Current portfolio overview
Puma VCT 13 has net assets of £165.9 million: a portfolio of 23 unquoted companies valued at £107.4 million, or 65% of net assets, with the remainder held in cash and short-term bonds to help manage liquidity (February 2025).
In the twelve months to February 2025 it invested a total of £27.5 million across six follow-on investments and three new companies.
Investors should note that three companies are currently held at nil value, contributing to a concentrated portfolio, with nearly half of the portfolio invested in its ten largest holdings (February 2025). However, it is split across different sectors including business services, consumer, and software. Please note: in the chart below some of the sectors may only include one company.
Source: Puma Investments, sector allocation by value, February 2025.
Example of portfolio companies
Largest holding
Pockit
Pockit is a fintech founded in 2014 by Virraj Jatania. It seeks to create products for those with poor credit, low income, or no fixed address—groups often rejected by traditional banks.
The company offers digital current accounts, prepaid cards, and tools like credit builders and income advances to help users manage money, pay bills, and improve credit scores. It provides services to more than 900,000 customers in the UK and recently acquired currency and remittances-focused fintech Monese, bringing total annualised revenue to almost £30 million. The company recently appointed industry veterans to its board, including former CEOs of Mastercard International and Vanquis Banking Group.
The Puma VCT 13 first invested in late 2023 and followed on in 2024. In total the VCT has invested £10.0 million, a position now valued at £16.9 million and accounting for 10.2% of NAV. Past performance is not a guide to the future.
Recent investment
NRG Gyms
NRG gyms is a profitable gym and wellness business with seven gyms across the county and plans to open another five. The company aims to provide top quality facilities at an affordable price point, with monthly memberships including all classes starting from £19.99 a month.
Today the company’s gyms have over 30,000 members, with the recently launched Newcastle site – one of the largest gyms in the city. The company has also recently appointed Neil Greenhalgh, former CFO of JD Sports, as a non-executive director.
Puma first backed the business in 2018, when the company operated just two gyms. Puma VCT 13 invested £3.7 million in the business in January 2025.
Exit track record
The VCT’s portfolio is still relatively young but has achieved two full exits: direct cremation specialist Pure Cremation (an investment from 2017) and health and wellbeing employee platform Tictrac (an investment from 2020), generating an average return of 3x. Past performance is not a guide to the future.
Example of recent exit
Tictrac
London-based Tictrac has created a platform used by businesses to provide health and wellbeing support to employees.
The platform uses data collected via wearable fitness trackers to give users personalised advice and action plans, designed to help them make better decisions on how to build and manage healthier behaviour.
Its primary customers are insurance companies, including some of the world’s largest, from Allianz to Prudential, and Aviva as well as thousands of employers and government health bodies.
In May 2022, the company was acquired by Canadian telemedicine firm Dialogue Health Technologies in a deal worth up to CA$56 million. The sale generated a 1.9x return for Puma VCT 13, based on an investment cost of £1.85 million. Past performance is not a guide to the future.
Example of previous failure
Dymag
As is to be expected, not all investments work out. Performance wheel manufacturer Dymag is an example.
Dymag was the first to manufacture 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.
Pre-Covid-19, the global market for carbon automotive wheels appeared very strong, with several major production programmes announced. Dymag continued to operate throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, but, in line with the rest of the automotive sector, its sales fell and the company continued to struggle even after lockdown restrictions were lifted.
Puma VCT 13 invested a total of £5.8 million, which has been written down to zero as at August 2024.
Performance and dividends
The VCT aims to pay average annual dividends of 5p per share, paid out of proceeds from investment sales. However, the dividend per share may vary considerably from year-to-year.
Following its exit from Pure Cremation in 2021, the VCT announced two interim dividend payments, collectively returning 11p per share to investors between December 2021 and March 2022. Following its exit from Tictrac in May 2022, the VCT paid a further 5.5p dividend in December 2022. While the VCT did not pay a dividend in 2023, it paid a 3p dividend in December 2024. Please remember, dividends are variable and not guaranteed.
Over the five years to 30 June 2025, the VCT has generated a NAV total return (including dividends) of 41.3%. Note, we show VCT returns over a five-year period as a minimum, where possible. Where a VCT has followed the same investment strategy for longer, we also show returns over 10 years. Past performance is not a guide to the future.
NAV and cumulative dividends per share (p)
Source: Morningstar. The share class launched in 2017 and first allotted shares in 2018. Past performance is no guide to the future. Dividends are variable and not guaranteed. The bar chart shows net asset value and cumulative dividends per share for the period 31/12/2019 - 30/06/2025.
Dividends paid per calendar year
Source: Morningstar. Past performance is not a guide to the future. Dividends are not guaranteed. The graph shows the dividends paid per calendar year to 30/06/2025.
Dividend yield history (% of starting NAV)
| Calendar year | Dividend as % of NAV |
|---|---|
| 2020 | — |
| 2021 | 5.8% |
| 2022 | 8.1% |
| 2023 | — |
| 2024 | 2.3% |
| YTD | — |
Source: Morningstar. Dividend yields are based on the dividends paid over the period divided by the starting NAV of the VCT in each period. Past performance is no guide to the future.
Dividend Reinvestment Scheme (DRIS)
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.
Share buybacks
Once its portfolio has become more mature, the VCT intends to buy back shares at up to a 5% discount to the prevailing published net asset value. This is not guaranteed – please see the offer documents for details.
Discount history
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 discount to NAV as at 30 June 2025 was -2.3%. Over the previous five years the average discount to NAV was -10.6%.
The discount history is based on the closing share price of the VCT 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.
Risks: important
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.
Charges and savings
A summary of the main charges and savings is shown below. The net initial charge shown includes the Wealth Club saving and any early bird discount. The investment may have additional charges and expenses: please see the provider documents including the Key Information Document for more details, offer price and share allotment calculation methodology.
Please note, capacity – for the offer or any early bird savings – can be reached early, and we may not be notified of this by the VCT in real time.
| Full initial charge | 3% |
| Early bird discount | – |
| Wealth Club initial saving | – |
| Existing investor discount | 1% |
| Net initial charge through Wealth Club (new investors) | 3% |
| Net initial charge through Wealth Club (existing investors) | 2% |
| Annual management charge | 2% |
| Annual administration charge | 0.35% |
| Performance fee | 20% |
| Annual rebate from Wealth Club (for three years) | 0.15% |
More detail on the charges
The full initial charge shown in the table above is before any savings and discounts; the net initial charge is after available savings and discounts. When you invest through us, Wealth Club will receive commission each year (up to 0.65%). Commission is paid by the product provider so there is no additional charge to you.
Please see the provider's documents, including the key information document, for more details on the total fees and charges.
Annual rebate when you invest through Wealth Club
The Puma VCT 13 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.
Our view
Puma is a well-resourced investment house, with a long track record of investing in small and medium-sized businesses. The investment team focuses solely on scale-up opportunities, irrespective of sector – a superficially simple but potentially effective approach.
While the portfolio is both concentrated and relatively small, with just 20 active investments, it has grown steadily in recent years following successful fundraises. The VCT continues to hold a significant amount of cash which should help diversify the portfolio in the coming years.
To date, the trust has reported two exits, the proceeds from which were used to pay a number of dividends, and several underlying holdings appear to show promise. Investors should note that while the VCT targets an average dividend of 5p per year, the dividend has historically varied significantly from year-to-year. Past performance is not a guide to the future; dividends are variable and not guaranteed.
In our view, this is an up-and-coming VCT which may add diversification to an existing VCT portfolio. Investors should form their own view.
This financial promotion has been communicated and approved by Wealth Club Ltd on 21 July 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.