Further, a London-based startup has launched its investment platform, designed to connect retail investors with high-quality venture capital funds, at scale and with minimum investment levels never seen before in the market.
This enables many new retail investors to invest in venture funds, from as little as £1000.
Historically, if you wanted to invest in venture capital, you would have to become a regular angel investor, use a crowdfunding website or invest a six-figure sum in a venture capital fund. For most people, the venture capital fund option was out of reach.
Further’s platform combines a streamlined investor journey with powerful fund administration tools, giving a wider pool of investors access to funds while alleviating the administrative burden that funds experience day-to-day.
Further’s platform offers investors a selection of venture capital fund investment opportunities, from a variety of well-known UK tax-advantaged and international venture capital fund managers.
For funds, Further offers modern administration and investor management software, which begins at customer onboarding and operates through the investor lifetime. With its combination of consumer platform and B2B software, Further is enabling the venture capital asset class to be accessed by a new market for the first time.
Before Further, Rob Tominey, Co-Founder and CEO, previously founded two successful consumer businesses, with Further being his third. His co-founder, Seb Wallace, is an early-stage VC at Triple Point, the firm behind Credit Kudos, Ably, Quit Genius and Learnerbly. Rob and Seb have been friends since university.
Rob Tominey, Co-Founder and CEO of Further, explained, “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, continued, “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 are:
• 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 closely with Further to facilitate wider access to their funds, in some cases at minimum investment levels up to 25 times lower than they’ve offered previously. “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”, Tominey added.
Ollie Purdue, Partner at Antler explained, “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 with venture funds with an established fund or manager track record, along with giving investors a range of choices across sectors, stages and investment theses.
Tominey, concluded, “To be on our platform, funds have to show a promising track record, demonstrated exits and a proven team.”