Further, a London-headquartered firm, has introduced its investment platform, developed to connect retail investors with “high-quality” VC funds, at scale and with minimum investment levels “never seen before in the market.”
This should allow new retail investors to invest in venture funds, from as low as £1000.
Previously, if you were looking to invest in venture capital, you would have to become a regular angel investor, use a crowdfunding site or invest a six-figure amount in a VC fund. For most individuals, the VC fund option had been out of reach.
Further’s platform reportedly combines an intuitive investor journey with robust fund administration tools, giving a much wider pool of investors access to funds while easing the administrative burden that funds experience.
Further’s platform provides investors a selection of VC fund investment opportunities, from a variety of established UK tax-advantaged and global venture capital fund managers.
For funds, Further provides modern administration and investor management software, which starts at client onboarding and operates through the investor lifetime. With its combination of consumer platform and B2B software, Further is supporting the VC asset class to be accessed by a market for the first time.
Prior to Further, Rob Tominey, Co-founder and CEO, previously founded two consumer businesses, with Further being his third.
His co-founder, Seb Wallace, is an early-stage VC at Triple Point, the company behind Credit Kudos, Ably, Quit Genius and Learnerbly.
Rob and Seb have been friends since their university days.
Rob Tominey, Co-Founder and CEO of Further, said:
“Our goal is to address the strong demand from consumers and the real problems experienced by funds today. We want to give consumers access to high-quality, professionally-managed venture capital funds while ensuring those funds can dramatically reduce the time they need to spend on fund administration.”
Seb Wallace, Co-Founder of Further, added:
“At our core is respect, for both our customers’ goals and our fund partners’ needs. Coming from VC myself, I understand the daily pains we experience as managers and how important it is that a distribution or administrative partner is of the highest calibre. That’s what Further always aims to be.”
Further’s launch partners reportedly include:
- Ascension, the UK’s most active investor according to Beauhurst, and the fund behind Zeroheight, Wagestream and Greendeck
- Antler, the global early-stage venture capital fund that backed companies like Vamstar and Seedata from the point of inception
- Triple Point, the B2B technology fund behind Credit Kudos, Vyne and Quit Genius
- Haatch, the early-stage venture fund behind pubX.ai, Plend and Tooth Fairy
- Pembroke, the leading consumer VC firm that has backed brands including ME+EM, Five Guys, Plenish and Pasta Evangelists.
- Albion, the experienced, seed to series B investor behind Grapeshot, Koru Kids and Quantexa
These managers are working cooperatively with Further in order to facilitate greater access to their funds, in some cases at minimum investment levels up to 25x lower than they’ve offered previously.
Tominey further noted:
“Through Further’s platform, funds are able to do this while providing investors with a premium experience over the fund lifetime, with a minimal administrative burden on their teams.”
Ollie Purdue, Partner at Antler, remarked:
“From day one, we were impressed with Further’s fund management and consumer marketing expertise. We see them as a respectful, tier-one partner to the ecosystem. They’ve been a success for us so far and we’re excited to be on board.”
Further’s focus is on working cooperatively with venture funds with a proven fund or manager track record, along with giving investors choices across sectors, stages and investment theses.
Tominey added:
“To be on our platform, funds have to show a promising track record, demonstrated exits and a proven team.”