Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all your money.

These are high-risk investments and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong.

Risk summary for non-readily realisable securities which are shares:

Last updated: 15 April 2024 | Estimated reading time: 2 min

Due to the potential for losses, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) considers this investment to be high risk!

What are the key risks?

1. You could lose all the money you invest

If the business you invest in fails, you are likely to lose 100% of the money you invested. Most start-up businesses fail.

2. You are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong

The business offering this investment is not regulated by the FCA. Protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) only considers claims against failed regulated firms. Learn more about FSCS protection here.

Protection from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) does not cover poor investment performance. If you have a complaint against an FCA-regulated firm, FOS may be able to consider it. Learn more about FOS protection here.

3. You won’t get your money back quickly

Even if the business you invest in is successful, it may take several years to get your money back. You are unlikely to be able to sell your investment early. The most likely way to get your money back is if the business is bought by another business or lists its shares on an exchange such as the London Stock Exchange. These events are not common. If you are investing in a start-up business, you should not expect to get your money back through dividends. Start-up businesses rarely pay these.

4. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

Putting all your money into a single business or type of investment, for example, is risky. Spreading your money across different investments makes you less dependent on anyone to do well. A good rule of thumb is not to invest more than 10% of your money in high-risk investments. Read more about it here.

5. The value of your investment can be reduced

The percentage of the business that you own will decrease if the business issues more shares. This could mean that the value of your investment reduces, depending on how much the business grows. Most start-up businesses issue multiple rounds of shares. These new shares could have additional rights that your shares don’t have, such as the right to receive a fixed dividend, which could further reduce your chances of getting a return on your investment. If you are interested in learning more about how to protect yourself, visit the FCA’s website here.

Please find the PDF version here.

Press
  • One of UK’s most active early stage investors
  • 170+ Investments to date 
  • 30+ new 'first cheque' investments per year 
  • 20 Seed/Follow On investments per year 
  • £210m Invested to date
  • £400m AUM (Assets under management) 
  • Multi-award winning Fund

About Fuel Ventures

Fuel Ventures is a leading UK venture capital fund specialising in early stage high growth technology startup investments with disruptive and ambitious founders who strive to build global multi-billion dollar businesses. Fuel provides entrepreneurs with expertise and insights in business development, marketing and brand-building through its experience of building, scaling and exiting global companies. Since its inception in 2014, Fuel Ventures has invested over £210 million into more than 170 UK companies. One of the first investors in compaies such as Volt valued at £256m (one of the fastest growing FinTech in Europe), ContentCal who were acquired for £110m by Adobe ($198b market cap), and Capdesk who were acquired for $88m by Carta ($8.5b market cap). Founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs.

Additional facts and figures

- Assets Under Management (AUM): £400 million, making Fuel Ventures one of the fastest growing and most active early-stage UK tech investment funds.

- Investment Portfolio: Over 170 investments into high-growth sectors, including SaaS, FinTech, Platforms and Marketplaces. Notable investments include Volt, a payments platform disrupting financial technology, OnBuy, a fast-growing UK-based online marketplace challenging global e-commerce giants, Abingdon, a provider of mission critical VMS software in vertical markets and Hotel Manager, a no-code platform that can be used to manage your hotel, from guest experience through to hotel operations.

- Funding Rounds and Capital Deployed: Fuel Ventures has participated in hundreds of funding rounds, with typical capital injections ranging from £250k to £5 million.

- Strategic Guidance: Our team, led by experienced entrepreneurs and our advisory network, allows for high-touch guidance. Noteworthy successes include Cult Mia, a female lead online luxury fashion marketplace building the leading platform to discover sustainable and conscious independent designers from around the world, which has expanded significantly under Fuel Ventures’ operational support and strategic direction having recently been invested into by H&M Ventures.

- Significant Investor Base: Over 1,000 individuals, consisting of exited technology entrepreneurs, financial services professionals, Family Offices and Corporate investors.

Meet our founder

Mark Pearson is an entrepreneur and investor with over 20 years of experience. As the Founder of Fuel Ventures, one of the UK’s most successful early-stage tech investors, he personally invests in every fund. From an initial investment of £300 Mark grew MyVoucherCodes into the second biggest deals-comparison brands in Europe (by revenue and audience). In 2014 Mark exited MyVoucherCodes for a reported £55 million. In addition to this, Mark also built up a personal investment portfolio of several companies, one of which was the first investor in Paddle, a UK tech unicorn (worth $1.4 billion). Father of two children, lives and breathes entrepreneurship and being a passion-fueled voice to support current and future founders, Mark is driven by his goals to make an impact in the UK and around the globe to encourage others in the tech world via entrepreneurship and innovation.


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