Mini Budget – A Nice surprise!
Whilst the mini budget from our new Chancellor Kwasi Kwatereng certainly was not mini from the headline grabbing point of view, there were some absolute gems in there for SEIS and EIS investors.
For EIS and SEIS investors, the Chancellor provided certainty that the schemes would extend beyond the sunset clause of 2025. This provides positive assurance for our employees and investors that we can continue investing into high growth biotechnology companies beyond 2025.
In addition, for SEIS investors, from April 2023 our SEIS fund can invest upto £250K in a company. This is an increase of two thirds, while the gross asset limit will be increased to £350,000. Investors will also be able to invest £200,000 into SEIS investments per year, an increase from £100,000. A very positive direction of travel for investors in British Innovation.
o2h Ventures – Best EIS Investment Manager
The Growth Investor Awards is one of the key events in the o2h Ventures diary. Although we are recent entrants into the tax efficient space (2018), we have been selected as a finalist for the Best Investment Manager of the Year 2022. We are up against industry veterans such as Parkwalk, Guinness, Par Equity, and Mercia. We hope that our niche biotech investment expertise wins us the award, but if not, we are just happy to be there! Awards Date: 24th November 2022.
o2h Ventures Portfolio Survey Results
We have now invested in 28 companies, and we decided to survey our portfolio. We were genuinely surprised by the results fifty percent of our companies were led by females or had female chairs (this was not by design but just by investing in the best talent).We are early investors, but our companies have raised a total of £230 million and employ 425 people, most of whom will be highly skilled. Please take note, Rt Hon Elizabeth Truss, and continue to support the biotech sector with highly skilled jobs, growth, mega inward investment, and innovations with global patents!
Upcoming Investments
The pipeline of investment opportunities is strong and offers attractive valuations. We are currently planning investments into two deals taking up our pre-emption, firstly into PharmEnable, being led by two blue-chip pharma industry funds and Kuano, having been awarded approximately £400K of non-dilutive funds through a competitive competition. .
Portfolio in the News!
Sentinel Oncology announced a worldwide license agreement with PharmaEngine for a small molecule Chk1 inhibitor. Small Pharma successfully enrolled for phase II a clinical trial. Neurofenix closed a $7M Series A investment round. Phoremost won the Business Weekly Awards 2022’s “Life Sciences Scale-up” honor. Alevin Therapeutics announced as a finalist for the OBN Awards 2022 for Best Biotech Start-up company, winner announced 17 November 2022. Neucruit was selected as one of the ten world-leading startups to enter the final stage of the P4 Precision Medicine Accelerator.
Biotech Bikers
We had a great time hosting the Biotech Bikers event. It was wonderful to share a summer bike ride with 50 our portfolio, investors, and collaborators. Let us know if you are interested in coming to the next one!
KI Fund Close on 31st October 2022.
We received approval from HMRC for the o2h human health KI EIS Fund IV with a closing date of 31st October 2022. Please click here or just send a short note to invest@o2h.com and we will schedule a call accordingly to onboard or top-up.
