Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong.
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Risk Summary

Estimated reading time: 2 min

Due to the potential for losses, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) considers this investment to be high risk.

What are the key risks?

  • You could lose all the money you invest
  • Most investments are shares in start-up businesses or bonds issued by them. Investors in these shares or bonds often lose 100% of the money they invested, as most start-up businesses fail.
  • Checks on the businesses you are investing in, such as how well they are expected to perform, may not have been carried out by the platform you are investing through. You should do your own research before investing.

You won't get your money back quickly

  • Even if the business you invest in is successful, it will likely take several years to get your money back.
  • The most likely way to get your money back is if the business is bought by another business or lists its shares on an exchange such as the London Stock Exchange. These events are not common.
  • Start-up businesses very rarely pay you back through dividends. You should not expect to get your money back this way.
  • Some platforms may give you the opportunity to sell your investment early through a 'secondary market' or 'bulletin board', but there is no guarantee you will find a buyer at the price you are willing to sell.

Don't put all your eggs in one basket

  • Putting all your money into a single business or type of investment for example, is risky. Spreading your money across different investments makes you less dependent on any one to do well. A good rule of thumb is not to invest more than 10% of your money in high-risk investments. Learn more here.

The value of your investment can be reduced

  • If your investment is shares, the percentage of the business that you own will decrease if the business issues more shares. This could mean that the value of your investment reduces, depending on how much the business grows. Most start-up businesses issue multiple rounds of shares.
  • These new shares could have additional rights that your shares don't have, such as the right to receive a fixed dividend, which could further reduce your chances of getting a return on your investment.

You are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong

  • Protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), in relation to claims against failed regulated firms, does not cover poor investment performance. Try the FSCS investment protection checker.
  • Protection from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) does not cover poor investment performance. If you have a complaint against an FCA-regulated platform, FOS may be able to consider it. Learn more about FOS protection here.

If you are interested in learning more about how to protect yourself, visit the FCA's website here.

For further information about investment-based crowdfunding, visit the crowdfunding section of the FCA's website here.
Insights
Investing Capital
Jenna Taylor
· 2 min read
· Updated on

Recap of our #GFHive investor event

Yesterday, we hosted our first Investor Event were delighted to be supported by Endeavour Partnership, who sponsored the event, providing the venue and refreshments.

We'd like to give a special thank you to Endeavour's Practice Manager, Sharon Hutchinson and her PA Lotty Reeves who were instrumental in helping us pull the event together and made sure everything ran smoothly on the day.

The event focused on Hive, currently live and raising capital on the GrowthFunders equity crowdfunding platform. This SEIS-eligible investment opportunity is looking to raise £150,000 in total and raised £40,000 in the first week of their campaign's launch.

This exciting tech startup has spun out from Visualsoft, a leading North East-based ecommerce company and has been designed to measure, analyse, and improve engagement and productivity in the workplace, by giving employees a voice.

The Hive, Endeavour, and GrowthFunders teams were in early to set up and make sure everything was going to run smoothly: 

Sharon Hutchinson welcomed everyone to the event and we had a fantastic turn out with around 40 people attending. It was great to see so many prominent North East business owners in the room, supporting a local startup, alternative finance, and finding out more about this live investment opportunity:

GFHive_Sharon_Intro
GrowthCapitalVentures' CEO, Norm Peterson, delivered an overview of the event along with some fantastic investor insights, such as how to mitigate risk, maximise upside, and associated tax reliefs of early stage investing, including the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme. Norm's investor insights provided a great introduction into SEIS-eligible business, Hive's, presentation.

GFHive_Norm_Intro


Hive’s co-founder and Head of Innovation at Visualsoft, John Ryder then delivered a 20-25 minute live pitch which gave everyone a fantastic overview of the investment opportunity. He explained where the idea for Hive came from and how the business is the first to be incubated in Visualsoft's new Innovation Lab.

GFHive_1

Covering all of the key points of a killer pitch presentation, John talked the audience through Hive's competitors, the problem that exists in the marketplace along with Hive's solution, and their proposed revenue model. To find out more about these areas and so much more, visit Hive's pitch page now.

GFHive_competition

After the pitch, there was a 20 minute Q&A session which featured some great input from Visualsoft's CEO, Dean Benson. A number of audience members took the opportunity to ask some questions which hadn't been covered in the pitch, such as:

Q: "Will the software actually get used or can employees just delete the email?"

A: Hive will benefit employees the most if they actually voice their opinions so that the workplace can change and faciliate their requests instead of the management never hearing of problems and continuing the way they are.

Q: "What about employees who don't have access to a computer e.g. DPD, as their drivers are always out. How do they fill the surveys in?"

A: Hive are currently working on both a smart phone app and SMS service for businesses whose employees are not office-based.

 You can also read a recent interview we did with John here.

After this, attendees and potential investors got the chance to network over lunch and speak to the Hive team on a more informal, one-to-one basis. 

GFHive_lunch_VS

Thank you again to Endeavour for sponsoring the event, congratulations to the Hive team on delivering a fantastic presentation, and we hope everyone who was there learnt a lot about this exciting investment opportunity.

Don't worry if you weren't able to attend but want to find out more about Hive, as you can visit their pitch page by clicking the button below.

View our live tax efficient investment opportunities
Driving Growth.
Creating Value.
Delivering Impact.

Backed by

Growth Capital Ventures (GCV) is backed by funds managed by Maven Capital Partners, one of the UK’s leading private equity and alternative asset managers.