Oxford capital eis fund
Investor Portal

Meet the Oxford Capital team – Chris Payne, Investor

1. What’s a typical day like for you at Oxford Capital?

This varies greatly depending on what day or week it is and what’s coming through the investment pipeline. Generally, we try to allocate a third of our time and effort to portfolio company management and support, new deal sourcing, and working on active deals – but this is often skewed towards one area or another!

2. Can you tell us a bit about your background prior to joining Oxford Capital?

I’m a mechanical engineer at heart and by education, but I’ve spent my professional life pre-Oxford Capital in Fintech. After a few years learning about enterprise-grade Saas with CloudMargin, a startup in the capital market space, I joined an M&A boutique called Royal Park Partners at its foundation. This was a terrific opportunity to learn about the very much larger world of fintech, venture capital deals and supporting companies with their objectives.

3. What most interests you about working with early-stage companies?

The rate of change for early-stage companies can be truly astonishing. Emergent technologies are being championed at a seemingly ever-increasing rate by startups eager to challenge the current ways, solve new problems or serve new customers. As an early-stage investor, the challenge for us is to understand which of these propositions is best placed to thrive, generate value and to support them through the rollercoaster of early-stage company growth.

4. What are the biggest challenges early-stage companies are facing in the current environment?

The past decade has been a period of abundant capital and growth. Companies optimised (and were encouraged) for growth-at-all-costs strategies – the business model, monetisation, economics and business set up could always be solved later – there was willing capital waiting to support it. Covid itself did little to hamper this, if anything the mindset became exacerbated during this period.

Now, the economic environment has shifted. Companies that have pursued robustness and quality in their business will come out strongest. The supply of capital hasn’t been switched off – great companies are still being funded, but the goalposts have shifted.

5. Which of our portfolio companies is your favourite and why?

SPOKE! Not only have they built a great company which is going from strength to strength, they make really rather good trousers…

Quickfire round

1. Favourite pastime/hobby

Rebuilding old cars – I’m fascinated by new tech, but can’t resist working on something old, rusty and invariably broken in some way

 2. Favourite holiday destination

Italy – the Romans got a few things right

3. Favourite meal

Cacio e Pepe

4. Favourite film/TV show

Blackadder

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
    1. 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
    1. 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 here.
    2. 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
    1. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. 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
    1. 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.
    2. A good rule of thumb is not to invest more than 10% of your money in high-risk investments. https://www.fca.org.uk/investsmart/5-questions-ask-you-invest
  5. The value of your investment can be reduced
    1. 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.
    2. 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.