£2M SEIS FUND
Regional at seed – global at exit
Bridging the regional funding gap – levelling up seed-stage investments
Overview of the SEIS Fund by David Smith
The DSW Ventures Seed EIS Fund invests in seed-stage regional deep technology, software and software-enabled services. It was launched in April 2023 and provides the capacity to invest up to £2m per annum in high-growth start-ups.
The Fund principally focuses on early-stage technology businesses and university spin-outs located outside the London-Oxbridge ‘golden triangle’. This under-invested asset class provides the opportunity for superior investor returns driven by lower competition for investments and capital-efficient companies.
Our “Total Engagement” approach delivers real value to our portfolio companies through our experience, focus, commercial approach and network – we target top-tier returns, boosted further by SEIS tax relief.
We are committed to sharing risk with our investors – the partners and staff of DSW will contribute over 23% of total individual commitments to the Fund.
The DSW Ventures Seed EIS Fund remains open to applications from interested investors – our latest fund brochure is available here.
Contact our partners if you would like to invest or to request further information.
Note that Seed EIS is a very high-risk asset class and may not be suitable for all investors.
The case for deep-tech investing in the regions
There are more spinouts from UK regional universities than from the Golden Triangle – 73 from Manchester University alone in the last 10 years.
There’s real brain-power in the regions – 25 Nobel Laureates from Manchester (ahead of Imperial), 11 from Birmingham, and 19 from Edinburgh. Not a bad haul of brilliance!
If the technology is right then later-stage money will follow…
Critically, there are very few early-stage institutional investors to get these regional businesses off the ground – limited competition leads to superior investor returns.