Fund in Focus - Vala EIS

Hand-picked investments managed by successful entrepreneurs

Introduction

The Vala EIS provides the opportunity to co-invest alongside Vala in a diverse portfolio of 6-10 companies with high growth potential and which are often already revenue-generating. The investment team at Vala has vast experience in the sectors represented by the Vala EIS Portfolio and they hand-pick the companies in which Vala and investors participate alongside each other. The companies are sourced from the investment team’s network that has been established over 30 years and Vala usually takes a Board seat to provide their expertise and experience in a mentoring role, with a drive toward realising successful and profitable exits.

Achievements to date

The investment team at Vala has personally invested over £40m into EIS-type companies to date and returned this at just over £140m to provide a c.3x exit multiple. Further details can be found in the independent reviews by both Allenbridge (which can be accessed here) and MICAP.

Vala as a group (est. 2018) has raised and deployed c.£5m into Vala EIS across two closings within 12 months. The most recent of these closed in April 2019 for which some EIS3’s have already been returned to investors and the remainder are expected over the coming months and before the end of the calendar year.

What makes Vala different?

Prompt Capital deployment

Funds committed by investors are fully deployed at each closing date, which typically takes place on a quarterly basis. Since investee companies are generally already trading this means EIS3s for investors often come through quickly.

The Vala Team invests alongside you

Vala commits its own capital alongside investors into the same underlying businesses and on the same terms.

Simple fee structure

Vala charges no fees to the investor. Instead a one-off initial fee of 6% is charged to the investee companies and that is all, for the life of the investment, until exit. There are no annual management fees, no arrangement fees, no monitoring fees, no hidden fees. If a threshold return is achieved for investors on exit, then Vala will earn a performance fee; this reinforces Vala’s focus on achieving growth potential and not on managing businesses.

“Over a five-year investment period Vala’s fund is the cheapest we have seen in the market by some margin”- MICAP.

Some of the companies Valahas hand-picked for EIS portfolios to date include:

Play.Works (www.play.works)

Games development company focused on producing titles for mobile messaging platforms such as Facebook Messenger. The company is now profitable and Vala EIS committed further funds in 2019 to scale-up with potential for an IPO.

Quvium (www.quvium.co.uk)

Technology and data company specialising in smart management of respiratory disease by listening to, interpreting and analysing cough. Developing a product SONASURE™ which is designed to be worn by an individual with respiratory conditions such as asthma and allow for early medical intervention before a respiratory attack takes place.

VN Aerotoxic Solutions (www.vn-ads.co.uk)

The company is developing a sensor that can be used in aircraft cabins and which can detect chemical compounds in real-time, such as the harmful substance Tricresyl Phosphate (TCP). EIS funds are helping to further develop sensor technology to increase the range of chemical compounds that can be detected.

Arksen

Semi-autonomous explorer vessels for go-anywhere adventures.Think Land Rover of the sea, with the tech of a Tesla.

Arksen is developing a unique and innovative range of semi-autonomous explorer vessels for pleasure, research and commercial purposes. The vessels will have the range and capability to operate anywhere in the world, in the harshest of environments, safely and comfortably.

Arksen’s vision is to pioneer the technology that will define the marine industry over the next decade.

If you are interested in further information about Vala EIS Portfolio and future opportunities, please contact us on info@kuberventures.com or +44 (0) 20 7952 6685.