THREE REASONS WHY NEWABLE'S SCALE-UP FUND

SHOULD BE PART OF YOUR CLIENT’S EIS PORTFOLIO

Alex Sullivan, managing director of GBI Magazine, sat down with Sanjeev Gordhan and Avantika Gupta from Newable Ventures to discuss what makes the business unique

Before joining Newable in 2018, Sanjeev had his own client bank at a national wealth management firm and sat on an investment committee's EIS panel. Avantika joined the Newable Ventures team in 2019 with a background in life science commercialisation and investing.

Together Sanjeev and Avantika helped share how they bring their perspectives to the table at Newable Ventures.

Sanjeev approaches his role as Ventures director with financial advisers in mind. He acknowledges it can be difficult for advisers looking at EIS, especially when researching the underlying investments in a given fund. EIS helps unlisted companies, so it’s essential that advisers understand the investment decisions made by a fund manager.

That's why Sanjeev thinks EIS fund managers have to make an extra effort to enhance transparency.

Sanjeev shared an example of the kind of transparency Newable has. Whenever Newable places an investment and it’s gone past the investment committee for approval, Newable sends out a vote call to all of their investors.

Every £5,000 gets an investor a vote, and though it's not binding, it serves as a communication tool and a temperature gauger.

In the vote call, Newable's investment directors and analysts will write to investors, let them know the underlying investment, why they think it is a good idea, and the problem this product is trying to solve.

To date, Newable hasn't had a single majority no, and the process allows investors and advisers to engage with the funding journey.

Sanjeev said on this "These types of steps help Newable increase transparency in the market and make sure investors are on the journey with us."

Avantika is a highly experienced project manager with a background in the commercialisation of life sciences, which makes her well fitted for the Associate Investment Director role.

Newable's Scale-Up Fund follows a strategy in line with the expectations of the fourth industrial revolution. The term was popularised at the World Economic Forum and stipulates that soon there will be a blurring of the lines between the biological, physical, and digital worlds.

Avantika mentioned that, over the last year, so much interaction has been happening online, with lots of data generated not from just human to human interaction but from machine to human and machine to machine interaction.

Avantika gave the example of the Internet of Things (IoT) technology, saying, "IoT has been in the media for the best part of ten years, but it’s now starting to materialise." IoT utilises data gained through objects to optimise physical environments, creating 'smart' spaces that can respond to, or even predict, human action. During the conversation, Alex asked Sanjeev for three reasons why Newble's scale-up fund should be part of an advisers EIS portfolio. His response is detailed below:

THE WIDER NEWABLE GROUP

Newable is not simply an EIS fund; it also provides professional support, advice and workspaces to pre-series A start-ups. Sanjeev commented, "at this end of the market, it’s crucial we can support the start-ups by providing a whole raft of services."

Newable has 60 flexible workspaces across the UK, from Southampton to Aberdeen. This alone has left Newable uniquely placed to adapt to post-pandemic working habits. The support Newable provides goes full circle to the investor; the better they can support their businesses, the more successful the investee companies are which leads to higher valuations and returns for investors. Newable’s advice team can help a business expand into different territories or extend research and development.

INDEPENDENT INVESTMENT COMMITTEE

With a combined experience of over 120 years, Newable’s 6 member independent investment committee is one of the key elements that makes the firm unique. The committee is made up of investment professionals who represent multiple later-stage funds or other types of investment houses, and they are active during the due diligence assessment process. Depending on the type of investment, Newable will match the experience of an individual committee member with the investment director to help on that project.

DIVERSIFICATION

Clearly, the most integral pull to any fund is the fund itself. The Newable Scale-Up Fund provides focused exposure to tech but across multiple sectors. Avantika explained the fund as having a broad remit, but at the same time having a narrow focus on the aims and strategy. The fund strictly supports pre-series-A businesses, usually post-seed, with a deep tech focus. Newable's aim is always to get companies to a series A readiness. Avantika explained the fund's approach is sector agnostic; they tend to look at investments from the viewpoint of converging technologies. That could be a biology and data meeting, or manufacturing and life sciences or life sciences and materials.

Avantika and Newable look for companies that are disruptive on those borders, and able to demonstrate some customer interest, and have demonstrated market pull for that technology. To watch the full interview please click here https:// ifamagazine.com/article/newable-helps-to-demystify- eis-for-advisers/ GBI

About Sanjeev Gordhan

Sanjeev became Director of the Newable Ventures arm in May 2020. He is responsible for the strategic focus of the fund and angel network as well as its day to day management. Sanjeev started as an entrepreneur before going onto selling his own business, and spent five years as a Wealth Manager specialising in venture capital. He holds a diploma in Regulated Financial Planning and an MBA from CASS Business School.