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Nexus Investments’ EIS Scale-Up Fund: Investor Update

By nexusgroup Posted In blog

Nexus Investments’ EIS Scale-Up Fund: Investor Update

London, 16 August 2018. Nexus Investments, a division of Harry Hyman’s Nexus Group, today announces the following update following the launch of its EIS Scale-Up Fund (“the Fund”) in July.

Fund launch update

The Fund Manager has already reviewed a number of exciting opportunities for first deployment of funds from the Scale-Up Fund, on the basis of a successful first completion in September. As well as a number of its existing portfolio companies displayed at https://www.nivl.co.uk these include but are not limited to companies scaling up in the physiotherapy / post operation sector; gluten free food; augmented reality; education/video tech; and SaaS (software-as-a-service) technology platform spaces.

Commitments to the Fund have started well in the short time to date, drawing attention from a range of investors seeking to benefit from the sector specialization and hands-on approach that Nexus Investments provides as well EIS reliefs.

Hardman & Co Research note published

An independent and positive research report on the Scale-Up Fund has been published by respected City research house, Hardman & Co. This provides a comprehensive overview and insight into Nexus Investments set-up and investment process and is now available to view at the Hardman & Co website.  The report draws attention to three key criteria that Nexus Investments applies to selecting investments:

► People: Nexus is particularly looking for ‘mission-driven’ founders – Nexus expresses a very strong preference for this over managers that have simply been brought in to run a business. The ideal criteria are a high-calibre academic, someone with experience in the sector in a major company, or someone who has previously built and sold a business.

► Business plan: The ideal plan needs to be both exciting and deliverable, in contrast to the many unrealistic business plans that Nexus rejects every year. The business needs to be scalable, most likely scaling into new markets or by adding new distribution. Nexus seeks to identify companies that have the capacity to develop into a £20m-£50m business, which corresponds to the range in which successful small businesses are most often sold, and hence have potential to generate a 10x return if achieved.

► Industry-specific insight: This is the specific application of a macro trend that may be supportive to the business. Core sectors in which Nexus specializes are Data, Digital, Education and Health, where UK early-stage companies can become global leaders:

Providing hands-on, practical advice to some of Britain’s brightest founders: national press coverage

Nexus Investments places special emphasis on providing business and strategy advice to early stage companies. This enables them to quickly win the respect of much larger incumbent players in their sector, and to scale up more quickly as a result.

► A good example is click-and-collect company HubBox, which received investment via Nexus Investments in 2016. Since 2015 it has built up a nationwide network of over 4,000 collect points, with over 150 integrations achieved for leading retailers. Nexus Investments and HubBox were featured in The Times on 13 August.

► Another example is TRUEinvivo, a University of Surrey spin-out which received investment via Nexus Investments in 2018. TRUEinvivo has developed a radiation detection system for cancer care that aims to save lives, money and offer a better quality of life to patients. At its helm is one of the UK’s most respected “women in innovation”, Dr Shakardokht Jafari. Her role inspiring other women in innovation was featured in The Daily Telegraph on 15 August.

► The first of a three-part interview with Nexus Investments Managing Director Matthew O’Kane has been published this week in GBI Investments providing insights into how Nexus supports and helps its portfolio companies grow.

Nexus Investments will be hosting another round of breakfast / lunch events in September for prospective investors, advisors and IFAs to learn more about the Fund, its aims and the entrepreneurial landscape in the UK more generally.

For more information, or details on the series of September presentations please contact:

Kinlan Communications

David Hothersall

[email protected]                                        Tel. 020 7638 3435

Nexus Investments

Matthew O’Kane

matthew.o’[email protected]           Tel. 0207 104 2059

 About Nexus Investments

Nexus Investments originates investment opportunities across a diverse portfolio where mission-driven founders are tackling macro-economic issues within Data, Digital, Education and Health.

A circle of almost 100 leading UK entrepreneurs and business leaders have followed Harry Hyman and other Nexus executives who have sourced and reviewed over 300 sector-specific early-stage deals since 2014, investing actively into around 20 of those that have passed Nexus Investments’ strict due diligence criteria, over 50 investment rounds. Over £40m has been subsequently invested into our portfolio companies since our first involvement.

Nexus Investment Management Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is member of BVCA (British Venture Capital Association and EISA (Enterprise Investment Scheme Association). Preliminary information on the EIS Scale-Up Fund can be found at www.scaleupfund.co.uk

About Nexus Group

Nexus is a long established private group founded and controlled by Harry Hyman. Since its inception in 1994 the Nexus Group has managed Primary Health Properties PLC (PHP). PHP is a UK FTSE 250 company listed on the main market of the London Stock Exchange investing in primary health care real estate with a market capitalization over £800m. Nexus also managed the Nexus Pine fund, investing in operational property let to educational providers, which was sold in May 2017 to the Universities Superannuation Scheme (“USS”) for £95 million. As well as being the founder and manager of PHP and PINE, the Nexus Group has built Investor Publishing Ltd into an authoritative B2B events and publishing business, and manages a number of other divisions. The Nexus group employs approximately 70 staff.

www.nexusgroup.co.uk

About EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme)

The Enterprise Investment Scheme (“EIS”) is a Government scheme that provides a range of tax reliefs for investors who subscribe for qualifying shares in qualifying companies. For more information please visit https://www.eisa.org.uk