This episode is our usual year-end panel. An all-star group of experts get together to discuss what happened in 2024 and the prospects for 2024. This year, Christiana Stewart-Lockhart, Director General of the EIS Assocation; Kealan Doyle, CEO & Director of Symvan Capital and Ewoud Karelse, Specialist-Product at Evelyn Partners bring their knowledge and insight.
In a wide ranging discussion we talk about:
- fundraising in 2024
- the effect of the budget and how it has brought a focus on tax rather than investment
- performance of the underlying funds
- how EIS has become more attractive for IHT planning
- the effect on the market of the changes in SEIS limits
- how closing deals is taking longer
- valuations and the availability of funding
- exit activity
- how AI and climatetech are still popular
- looking forward to 2025
As usual, the panel bring a lot of knowledge and insights. 2024 was an eventful year so listen and find out what it all means for investors and advisers.
00:50 Introductions from Christiana, Kealan and Ewoud
03:00 how has fundraising been
08:00 the effect of the budget
12:00 the focus on tax rather than investment in 2024
15:30 performance of the underlying funds
19:00 increased attraction EIS for IHT planning
24:00 the administration challenge
27:30 effect of SEIS limit changes on the market
31:50 EIS investing - length of time to close deals
36:00 valuations and down rounds, availability of funding
38:00 exit activity
47:30 hot sectors - AI
53:00 hot sectors - climatetech
59:30 looking forward to 2025
62:30 activity in the regions
66:15 Predictions for 2025
Links
EIS Assocation - https://eisa.org.uk/
Symvan Capital - https://www.symvancapital.com/
Evelyn Partners - https://www.evelyn.com/
Subscribe to the EIS Navigator podcast on most services here: https://the-eis-navigator.captivate.fm/listen
Bios
Kealan Doyle
Kealan is CEO and co-founder of Symvan Capital. He has worked with venture capital companies for 15 years, both in a corporate finance advisory capacity as well as a fund manager. He prefers to invest in a wide range of technology companies, but is also very interested in finding synergies within the Symvan portfolio of companies. Company interests include big data analytics, fintech, SaaS, 3D printing and network security. Before his involvement in venture capital investing, Kealan previously lead a structured equity products team at HSBC, and has worked at Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch and UBS. Together with Nicholas, he has since founded his own entrepreneurial businesses to focus on VC investing. Kealan holds degrees from the London School of Economics and the University of Toronto.
Christiana Stewart-Lockhart
Christiana Stewart-Lockhart is the Director General of the Enterprise Investment Scheme Association (EISA). She previously spent more than a decade working in Westminster including ten years at the Institute of Economic Affairs. She also founded EPICENTER, a Brussels based network of some of the most respected think tanks from across Europe. Christiana holds a BA in Politics from the University of York. She is a member of TISA’s Children’s Financial Education Policy Council and also sits on the Advisory Board for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Entrepreneurship.
Ewoud Karelse
Ewoud started his career in financial services with Allenbridge in 2000 and joined Towry Law in 2008 before joining Tilney in 2016, and Evelyn Partners in 2022. Ewoud is responsible for the research and selection of Venture Capital Trusts; (Seed) Enterprise Investment Schemes; Business Relief for Inheritance Tax Planning (AIM and non-AIM), and Social Investment Tax Relief products. He is also well versed in the use of Business Investment Relief for International clients.
Disclaimer
Please note this podcast/interview does not constitute a financial promotion and is provided for informational purposes and should not be construed as an invitation or offer to buy or sell any investments. Please be aware that investments into unquoted companies are high risk, long term and illiquid investments. Your capital is at risk. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Target returns are not guaranteed and forward looking statements are illustrative only and must not be relied upon. Investors should only invest on the basis of reading the full offer documentation.
