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Terms & Conditions

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Terms and Conditions

These Terms of Service constitute a legal agreement between you, as the user of the Website, and Growth Capital Ventures, as the owner of the Website. Throughout these Terms of Service we will refer to you as “you” or “the User”, and we will refer to Growth Capital Ventures as “we”, “us” or “Growth Capital Ventures”.

 

Please note: "GrowthFunders", "GCV Invest", "GCV Labs" and variations thereof are all trading names of Growth Capital Ventures Limited. These terms and conditions apply in full to Growth Capital Ventures and its trading names.

1. Alternative Finance

These Terms of Service set out the general terms governing your use of the Website. They apply to you as soon as you first use the Website, and you are deemed to have agreed to be bound by them upon your first use of the Website. If you do not wish to continue to be bound by these Terms of Service, please stop using the Website now.

2. Relationship to Other Agreements

In addition to these Terms of Service, our Privacy Policy applies to you and everyone else who uses the Website. We refer to the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy together as the “Website Agreements”.

During the course of your use of the Website, you may choose to agree to be bound by certain other agreements: for example, if you wish to join Growth Capital Ventures as a member, you will need to agree to a Membership Agreement, and if you wish to invest in a seed-stage business through Growth Capital Ventures, you will need to agree to the relevant LP Agreement. We refer to all of these other agreements as the “Platform Agreements”, because rather than just governing your technical use of the Website, they set out the substantive terms that govern your relationship with us when you make use of our platform.

The Website Agreements will continue to apply to you even after you have agreed to a Platform Agreement. However, if it turns out that there is a conflict between the Website Agreements and a Platform Agreement that you agree to, the Platform Agreement will take precedence.

3. Intellectual Property

The Website may include at any given time text, graphics, logos, icons, images, sound clips, video clips and data compilations, and together with the Websites page layout, underlying code and software were refer to all of these as “Content”.

All of the Content is the property of Growth Capital Ventures, our affiliates or third parties with whom we do business, and this means that it is protected by United Kingdom and international intellectual property laws and other relevant laws. This means that, except as provided by Part 1, Chapter 3 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (which contains what are generally known as the “fair use” provisions for copyrighted materials), you may not reproduce, copy, distribute, store or in any other fashion re-use material from the Website unless otherwise indicated on the Website or unless given express written permission to do so by Growth Capital Ventures.

4. Links to Other Websites

This Website may contain links to other websites. Unless we expressly say otherwise, you should assume that these other websites are not under the control of Growth Capital Ventures or our affiliates. We assume no responsibility for the content of such websites, and we disclaim liability for any and all forms of loss or damage arising out of the use of them. Additionally, even if we include a link to another website on this Website, that does not mean that we endorse that other website or in any way recommend that you should use it.

All of the Content is the property of Growth Capital Ventures, our affiliates or third parties with whom we do business, and this means that it is protected by United Kingdom and international intellectual property laws and other relevant laws. This means that, except as provided by Part 1, Chapter 3 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (which contains what are generally known as the “fair use” provisions for copyrighted materials), you may not reproduce, copy, distribute, store or in any other fashion re-use material from the Website unless otherwise indicated on the Website or unless given express written permission to do so by Growth Capital Ventures.

5. Disclaimers

If you choose to agree to the Membership Agreement, you will see that in there and in other Platform Agreements we make certain promises to you about what parts of the Website and its Content we are responsible for and what parts we are not. This means that, if you are a party to one of those agreements and something goes wrong with your use of the Website, you may be able to hold us responsible depending on the circumstances.

However, with the exception of the specific promises we make in a Platform Agreement to which you are a party, you need to be aware that:

We make no warranty or representation (express or implied) that the Website will meet your requirements, that it will be of satisfactory quality, that it will be fit for a particular purpose, that it will not infringe the rights of third parties, that it will be compatible with all systems, that it will be secure or that all information provided will be accurate.

We make no guarantee of any specific results from the use of the Website.
No part of this Website is intended to constitute advice, and the Content of this Website should not be relied upon when making any decisions or taking any action of any kind.

The Website is provided “as is” and on an “as available” basis, and we give no warranty that it will be free of defects and / or faults.

We accept no liability for any disruption or non-availability of the Website resulting from external causes including, but not limited to, ISP equipment failure, host equipment failure, communications network failure, power failure, natural events, acts of war, or legal restrictions and censorship.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, we accept no liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage, foreseeable or otherwise, including any indirect, consequential, special or exemplary damages arising from your use of the Website or any information contained in it, and you use the Website and its Content at your own risk. This is not intended to exclude or restrict our liability for death or personal injury arising from your use of the Website.

6. Severability

We have made every effort to ensure that these Terms of Service adhere strictly with the relevant provisions of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 and other applicable laws. However, in the event that any of these provisions are found to be unlawful, invalid or otherwise unenforceable, that provision is to be deemed severed from these Terms of Use and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of the remaining Terms of Service. This clause on “Severability” shall apply only within jurisdictions where a particular term is illegal.

7. No Waiver

In the event that either you or we fail to exercise any right or remedy contained in these Terms of Service, that does not mean you or we (as applicable) have waived that right or remedy and so shall not be construed as a waiver.

8. Revisions

From time to time we may update these Terms of Service to take account of changes in the law or for any other reason. If we update these Terms of Service, we will post a new version on the Website, and as soon as you use the Website after they are posted, you will be deemed to have agreed to the updated version, but you will still be bound by the terms of any previous versions to which you have agreed or been deemed to agree. If there is a conflict between two versions of the Terms of Service to which you have agreed or been deemed to agree, the more recent version shall take precedence unless it is expressly stated otherwise.

9. Communications

If you wish to communicate with us about anything related to these Terms of Service, you may do so by sending an e-mail to enquiries@growthcapitalventures.co.uk. Please note that the webmaster can only respond to questions about these Terms of Service and any technical issues with use of the Website, and that if you have any other questions about the Website you should e-mail the appropriate address set out in the “Contact Us” section of the Website.

10. Choice of Law

These Terms of Service, and the relationship between you and Growth Capital Ventures created by it, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.

11. Jurisdiction

You agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales. This means that if you want to bring a legal action against us, or we want to bring a legal action against you, it must be done in one of these courts.

12. Definitions

We have used a few capitalised terms in this Agreement, which means that they have specific definitions. In some cases the definition is set out when they’re first used, but in a few cases we give the meaning below instead.

Privacy Policy means the privacy policy of the Website, available at Privacy Policy;
Growth Capital Ventures means Growth Capital Ventures Limited, a private limited company registered in England and Wales under registration number 08155332;
and
Website means the website that you are currently using (www.growthcapitalventures.co.uk) and any sub-domains of this site unless expressly excluded by their own terms and conditions.

Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong.
Risk Summary

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?

  • You could lose all the money you invest
  • Most investments are shares in start-up businesses or bonds issued by them. Investors in these shares or bonds often lose 100% of the money they invested, as most start-up businesses fail.
  • Checks on the businesses you are investing in, such as how well they are expected to perform, may not have been carried out by the platform you are investing through. You should do your own research before investing.

You won't get your money back quickly

  • Even if the business you invest in is successful, it will likely take several years to get your money back.
  • 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.
  • Start-up businesses very rarely pay you back through dividends. You should not expect to get your money back this way.
  • Some platforms may give you the opportunity to sell your investment early through a 'secondary market' or 'bulletin board', but there is no guarantee you will find a buyer at the price you are willing to sell.

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 any one to do well. A good rule of thumb is not to invest more than 10% of your money in high-risk investments. Learn more here.

The value of your investment can be reduced

  • If your investment is shares, 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.

You are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong

  • Protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), in relation to claims against failed regulated firms, does not cover poor investment performance. Try the FSCS investment protection checker.
  • Protection from the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) does not cover poor investment performance. If you have a complaint against an FCA-regulated platform, FOS may be able to consider it. Learn more about FOS protection here.

If you are interested in learning more about how to protect yourself, visit the FCA's website here.

For further information about investment-based crowdfunding, visit the crowdfunding section of the FCA's website here.

Driving Growth.
Creating Value.
Delivering Impact.

Backed by

Growth Capital Ventures (GCV) is backed by funds managed by Maven Capital Partners, one of the UK’s leading private equity and alternative asset managers.