Access EIS

• Target returns of £3.50 for each £1 invested.
• A fund that only invests in highly-vetted deals alongside super angels.
• The UK's most diversified startup fund, building you a portfolio of 50+ deals.
• Pay less. Access EIS fees are lower than legacy EIS and VC funds.
• Get 30p back in tax relief per £1 invested with EIS. Eligible investors only. Read more.
• Frequent portfolio updates & easy EIS exporting for self-assessment.
• Back ambitious startup founders and help them on their journey.

The table below shows three scenarios for projected returns over a seven year period. Each scenario assumes a £10,000 investment in Year 0 (when an investment is first made). Please read page 22 of the Information Memorandum for full methodology.

Startups are not for the fainthearted - all the underlying investments can fail and investors can lose money. Eligible investors can claim loss relief against failed investments.

The above table illustrates the value of the initial EIS tax relief on a £10,000 investment (approximately £3,000). EIS loss relief is also typically available in relation to investments in the portfolio that later go on to fail but is not factored in here. Read more about EIS initial relief and loss relief in the Information Memorandum.

Access EIS tracks performance data of over 10,000 active startup investors. It then selects and co-invests with some of the best-performing “super angels” with the aim of replicating their collective success.

Your capital will be invested exclusively into startups with backing from one or more super angels and your investments will always be made on equal economic terms with them too.

On average, a super angel’s startup portfolio grows at 42% a year and each super angel has a demonstrable track record of backing top startups before others spot them. Their seed investments include UK startup success stories like Revolut (valued at $5.5bn in Feb 2020), Horizon Discovery (LON: HZD), Magic Pony Technology (sold to Twitter) & Swiftkey (sold to Microsoft).

How we compare:

Who you’ll be co-investing with.

Names are redacted for privacy reasons.

Before we consider a startup for investment, it needs to receive investment from one or more super angels. Their approaches to due diligence vary, but they don’t take it lightly, usually getting to know startups and founders very well before investing. Frequently, they also have significant sector expertise.

In addition, we conduct our own due diligence for an extra layer of safety. We check that:

• The business is raising between £400,000 and £5m. This selects out the very high risk early-stage opportunities, but ensures there is still plenty of potential for valuation growth left in the business.
• The business is UK incorporated and the funding round is EIS eligible.
• We check that the super angel we are following is investing in the same funding round as Access EIS, and that we’re getting the same or better economic terms as them.
• The business isn’t in an excluded sector, such as involved in arms or gambling.
• The company directors pass all required anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) checks.
• The super angel’s investment is in-line with their normal investing habits we have on record. We check that the super angels aren’t receiving compensation for referring Access EIS.

1. Once you’ve read about the fund, click "Make an Investment" and you will be asked to register for free if don't already have an account.
2. You will have to wait an FCA mandated 24hr period before you can apply to invest.
3. We will email you once the 24 hour is over and you can complete our simple investment form.
4. Your portfolio will begin building after your two week cooling off period, unless stated otherwise during a promotion.
5. We’ll invest in an average 4-5 startups per month.
6. We aim to deploy funds in 12-14 months.
7. You can track the full deployment and performance on your dashboard

By investing in Access EIS, eligible investors could receive generous tax relief for your income or capital gains tax bill.

EIS highlights:

• Income tax relief of 30% (30p on each £1 invested).
• Additional loss relief up to 45% per failed company (% equal to income tax band).
• No capital gains tax on investments held for 3+ years.
• No inheritance tax on investments held for 2+ years.

To illustrate EIS at work, consider an investment into a single startup. If the startup exits successfully after three years, you get the initial 30% tax relief and all of the profits without paying capital gains tax. If it were to fail, you could combine the income tax relief and additional loss relief so that up to 68.5% of your investment can be offset against your tax bill.

EIS tax relief can be claimed for the tax year in which an investment is made, or carried back by one year. For the purposes of tax relief, HMRC considers an “investment” to be the date the startup issues shares and not when you pay money into Access EIS.

You’ll receive a digital EIS certificate within a few weeks of each startup investment. You’ll be able to download these one at a time, in batches, or all at once after deployment to easily attach to your tax return.

Sit back and enjoy watching your portfolio develop. You’ll start receiving updates about your portfolio. We require startups to report quarterly and these reports will be saved to your dashboard.

Your investor dashboard is where you find all the latest information on your portfolio.

It’s also where you can download digital EIS certificates for your investments. You can export everything in one click and simply attach it to your self-assessment tax return to HMRC.

Independent, third party review of Access EIS for financial advisers and other investment professionals.

Hardman & Co Report on Access EIS