Alternative Investment Opportunities

Mainly for portfolio diversification,  return potential and tax efficiency.

Other assets often fall together when markets are under stress, whereas the value of a private company or a property development is driven more by its own progress than any daily market sentiment. Adding alternatives can drastically reduce how dependent a portfolio is on public markets and give exposure to other areas of a country's economy. 

Of course, there are trade-offs: alternatives are usually illiquid, harder to value and carry a higher risk of loss, and some early-stage investments will fail outright. That's why most experienced investors treat them as one part of a balanced portfolio.

The FCA's general rule of thumb is not to put more than 10% of your investable assets into high-risk investments.

GCV (Growth Capital Ventures) offers co-investment opportunities across three asset classes, each sourced, structured and assessed by our team:

• Venture capital: early-stage UK companies in fintech, SaaS, medtech and other tech-enabled sectors, usually structured to qualify for SEIS or EIS tax relief. We look for businesses with the potential to return ~10x over a 3- to 7-year hold. Combining our expertise with GCV Labs, this is GCV's main focus.
  
  
• Property: joint venture residential developments with our delivery partner, Homes by Carlton, structured as debt, equity or both. These target around 1.5x money on money over roughly two years.
  
  
• Private equity: later-stage private companies where we can create significant additional equity value, typically targeting 2.5x over up to five years.

For venture capital, GCV's team reviews hundreds of early-stage businesses a year and fewer than 1% are offered to investors.

We look for ambitious, well-led teams with a clear and differentiated proposition, a real problem being solved, a credible growth strategy and a realistic route to exit.

Some businesses we help build ourselves through GCV Labs; others are purely external companies. Every opportunity is UK-based, with our founders and team personally investing in every deal we offer, often alongside a stake held by GCV itself. As an exit-led investor, we only back businesses where we can see a clear path to returning capital.

For property, we structure JV deals with our delivery partner, Homes by Carlton, selecting developments where we can target a 1.5x return over 2 years during favourable market conditions. 

Yes, we only invest into alternative investment opportunities where the Investee Companies or Projects are based in the UK.

Businesses and projects are chosen only where we have a deep understanding of the underlying investment opportunity and its potential to deliver the required target returns and positive social, economic and environmental benefits. 

GCV's property opportunities are joint ventures in UK residential developments, originated and structured with our strategic delivery partner, Homes by Carlton.

Because investors and the developer share in the same outcome, interests stay aligned through planning, build and sale.

Projects typically run for around two years, though build costs, sale prices and timelines can all move against a development. Past projects include Middleton Waters, Thorpe Paddocks and The Langtons.

The main risks are losing some or all of your money and not being able to sell when you want to.

Many early-stage companies fail, and there's no ready market for private shares. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) doesn't cover poor investment performance.

For venture capital opportunities. expect your money to be committed for years rather than months: typically 3 to 7 years, up to five years for private equity and around two years for our property deals.

In return for taking on that risk, alternative investments offer the potential for higher returns than mainstream assets, particularly venture capital, where a single successful company can return many times the original investment.

Venture capital opportunities structured under SEIS or EIS also come with tax reliefs that help offset the downside: upfront income tax relief of 50% (SEIS) or 30% (EIS), plus loss relief if a company fails. 

Returns usually only arrive at an exit, such as a sale, stock market listing or completed development, so only invest money you won't need in the meantime.

Our risk policy sets this out in full.

Yes. Growth Capital Ventures Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN 623142).

Founded in 2015 and based in County Durham, GCV is backed by funds managed by Maven Capital Partners, one of the UK's leading private equity and alternative asset managers, and has a network of more than 1,500 investor members.

Being FCA regulated means we must follow the FCA's rules on how we communicate about investments, check that they're appropriate for you and treat customers fairly. It doesn't protect you against an investment performing badly.

You can check our details on the FCA register.

Joining GCV Invest is free and done online. Create your account, then:

1. Complete identity checks (KYC and anti-money laundering), carried out in real time as part of your application.
2. Confirm your investor category and complete a short appropriateness questionnaire.
3. Once approved, view full details of each opportunity, invest through the GCV Invest portal and track your portfolio with regular performance updates.

If you'd rather talk it through first, speak to Matthew, our Investor Relations Associate, at matthew.robineau@growthcapitalventures.co.uk.

Matthew's always happy to have a quick chat over the phone if that helps. 

There are no membership fees, joining fees or upfront fees to invest.

For venture capital, GCV only charges investors when they make money: at an exit, such as a trade sale, stock market listing we take 7.5% of the investment gain before returning your proceeds. In the event of a dividend, 7.5% of the dividend is charged.

If an investment doesn't make a gain, there's no investor fee to pay. Combined with our team investing personally in every deal, it means we only do well when you do.

For our property joint ventures, fees are typically built into the project rather than charged to you directly. GCV receives a deal structuring fee of around 3% of the equity raised from our investor network, and our development partner, Homes by Carlton, receives a development management fee of around 3% of the scheme's gross development value for delivering the build.

The remaining development profit is then shared between investors and Homes by Carlton, typically on a 50/50 basis, with each investor receiving their share in proportion to the amount invested.

GCV Invest is designed primarily for high-net-worth individuals, sophisticated investors and institutional investors, but isn't limited to them.

We welcome investors at every level who are comfortable making their own investment decisions and understand the risks of investing in private companies, including those who prefer to build a portfolio steadily with smaller amounts.

Our advertised minimum investment is £5,000 per deal, though this can flex depending on how each opportunity is structured.

Because GCV is authorised and regulated by the FCA, when you join you'll be asked to confirm which investor category best applies to you:

• Restricted investor: you won't invest more than 10% of your net assets (excluding your main home and pension) in high-risk investments like these. There's no income or wealth threshold, so this suits investors starting with smaller amounts.
• High-net-worth investor: an annual income of at least £100,000, or net assets of at least £250,000 (excluding your main home and pension).
• Sophisticated investor: relevant experience, such as having made more than one investment in an unlisted company in the last two years.