Albion Capital has hired an investment manager from Rothschild & Co as VCT season kicks off.
Jessica Bartos (pictured) joins from Rothschild & Co where she advised technology, media and telecom firms on mergers and acquisitions.
Working in Albion’s technology investment arm, Bartos will work with over 40 existing early-stage tech companies as well as seeking new prospects.
She began her career with the US government, where she financed infrastructure projects in emerging markets in support of US exports and international development initiatives. She also worked in the OECD, the US Trade Representative and the US Treasury.
She is specialised in insuretech, fintech, cloud computing, software-defined networking, digital advertising, the space industry, and ERP and accounting software.
Head of tech investment Ed Lascelles said the hire completes Albion’s recruitment round for the team.
“We are seeing a tremendous pipeline of opportunities in innovative early stage companies across the UK in areas of B2B software and tech-enabled services including AI, digital health, cyber security and data analytics,” Lascelles said.
Albion and Mobeus kick off VCT season
The hire comes as Albion VCTs last week announced they were looking to raise £34m while rival VCT firm Mobeus seeks £58m.
Wealth Club director Alex Davies said Albion VCTs give investors a good mixture of high growth areas, like technology, and more “secure” investments, like holdings in private schools and renewable energy projects.
“The Albion VCTs have had an excellent couple of years with some extremely profitable exits such as the sale of Process Systems Enterprise to Siemens and Grapeshot Limited to Oracle. Both sales have given the VCT a 10x or more return,” Davies said.
Wealth Club investors poured £1.25m into Albion and £2.4m into Mobeus within 48 hours of their respective launches.
In the tax year to date, VCTs have raised £68.4m. That compares to £105m for the same period last year.
But Davies still expected the current tax year to surpass the £731m raised last year, which was the second biggest ever.
So far this tax year £68.4 million has been invested in VCTs. Whilst this is lower than the £105 million raised the same period last year, the decrease is likely due to the fact a number of popular offers opened earlier in the year, rather than any dampening in demand from investors.
“With pension restrictions hitting more and more people each year and with fewer tax efficient investment options left, we expect demand for VCTs this year to outstrip last years,” he said.
