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.
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Portfolio News
Norm Peterson
· 1 min read
· Updated on

GCV launches new round to expand venture builder and investor network

Concluding what has proven a busy 2022 for all at Growth Capital Ventures, I’m delighted to share our own equity investment opportunity is now live and open for investment to our private investor network.

An EIS-eligible investment opportunity - meaning investors can benefit from the range of tax incentives available under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (dependent on their individual tax circumstances) - in this round we are raising £1 million to expand our GCV Invest and GCV Labs teams to create, launch, scale and invest into more transformative companies.

A key component of GCV’s five-year plan, this round will fuel company growth by targeting five key areas:

  • GCV Labs | Quva - recruitment of the Quva (GCV’s wholly owned alternative investment software) scale up team across sales, marketing, customer success, account management, software engineering and project management

  • GCV Labs | n-gage.io - strengthening the software engineering team for n-gage.io (a part-owned GCV portfolio company and visitor engagement platform) to deepen technology, build further integrations and support the product development roadmap to scale

  • GCV Labs | New projects - recruiting a new project team to increase venture builder capacity as we look to create two new projects

  • GCV Invest | New transactions - strengthening the GCV Invest team to increase transaction and portfolio management capacity across all asset classes

  • GCV Invest | Marketing and investor relations - expanding the GCV Invest Sales and Marketing team to onboard and support new investors to our private investor network

Having co-invested over £100 million to date - with over £30 million from our private investor network - delivered three profitable exits for investors and launched and scaled a number of high-growth, tech-enabled companies, this round will ultimately enable us to launch more companies and build our investor network further.

Targeting 10x money-on-money returns alongside the range of income tax, capital gains tax and inheritance tax advantages offered by the EIS, this round has been structured to minimise downside risk and maximise potential upside for investors.

If you wish to find out more about this investment round, you can login to GCV Invest to view the investment details in full and download the opportunity note.

Should you have any questions regarding the raise, Dan Smith, Investor Relations Director, can be contacted at dan.smith@growthcapitalventures.co.uk or on 0330 102 5525.
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.