In what is an exciting milestone in the history of our EIS/SEIS investment business Haatch Ventures is now a directly authorised fund manager.

The moment marks another key milestone in the fast-evolving Haatch story; one started back in 2013 with a vision to support some of the best entrepreneurs on the planet build the companies of their dreams.

Alongside Haatch Desks, a growing flexible workspace business which helps incubate those companies, and provides space for others to grow, our flagship Haatch Ventures EIS Fund has been growing from strength to strength, raising cash to invest into some of the hottest UK companies around – with 4 new deals completed this month!

Raising and running a fund is a regulated activity and we used a ‘regulatory umbrella’ provided by The Fund Incubator Limited to provide the necessary cover. Moving from such an umbrella arrangement to becoming directly authorised is a key moment for us.

Fred Soneya, Co-Founder & Partner explained: "Getting FCA authorisation isn’t straightforward and we were grateful for the support and compliance expertise of Barry Lawson, the Managing Partner of The Private Equity Consultancy. Barry has a long track record of successful FCA applications, and his firm was recommended to us by two leading London VCs with whom we work closely.”

“Having access to the vast experience of Barry and his whole team enabled our FCA application and supporting work to run extremely efficiently with the whole process from application to approval taking only 5 months.

Authorisation represents a further step in the evolution of Haatch and its funds.”.

Barry Lawson said “I’m delighted to have been able to help the Haatch team obtain authorisation. It is important that fund managers such as Haatch are able to link intelligent investor money with inspiring and innovative new companies.”

For more information on how you can get involved as an investor or start-up, you can contact Haatch Co-Founder & Partner Fred Soneya direct on fred@haatch.com.