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The Syndicate


What is a syndicate?

A syndicate is a group of investors (like an investment club) that pools their capital to invest into deals via a special purpose Vehicle (SPVs). As a member of the Finwise 4D investor syndicate, you’ll be invited to deals that you can choose to invest in on a deal-by-deal basis.

How we work?

Each Month We Review Many Investment Opportunities. We Select The Top 1-2% Best Opportunities And Allow Syndicate Members To Join Us To Invest Alongside Us And Alongside Professional Investors.

The Advantages

Build your own diversified portfolio of cherry-picked tech startups

Invest as low as Eur 10K per deal

You decide on a deal-by-deal basis to invest or not.

We do not charge management fees from syndicate members nor subscription fees

The Syndicate partners - Our Track record

Patrick Soetens


– Syndicate Partner

Patrick has more than 20 years of experience in banking and financial markets and gained valuable startup experience as the founder and CEO of the Swiss subsidiary of Belgian online broker Keytrade Bank for 8 years. He started Finwise in 2016 as a fundraising advisory firm for selected top tier tech startups. Succesful companies he worked with at early stage include Belgian company Loop which was recently winner of the scale-up of the year in Belgium. He started angel investing in startups in 2017.

Thomas Desimpel

– Syndicate Partner

Thomas is a succesful angel investor (2017-2022) turned solo GP in 2022, backed by three silent partners (Nicolas D, Charles D, Axel D).  He already realised two exits, of which one portfolio returner

Our Mission

In recent years we noticed that access to the asset class of early stage capital is often not easy due to high minimum amounts. We want to make angel investment more accessible. Via our syndicate it is possible to build a diversified portfolio with tickets of only 10K.

Our Investment Thesis

– We primarily invest in founders and are therefore looking for exceptional founders, ideally serial entrepreneurs with exit experience, an international mindset and strong sales skills
– We have most experience in B2B SaaS, Fintech so most of our deals will be in that category but we can look at other ‘tech’ verticals on a case by case basis
– We concentrate on companies that are already revenue generating, at the moment where they can demonstrate tentative product-market fit and are ready to take off (‘de-risking’)
– Reasonable valuations with significant upside potential (target >10x): we do not want to overpay
– We are looking for highly scalable companies in large addressable market
– Target geographic focus: 60% Western Europe (UK/IRL, Benelux, France, Germany, Nordics), 30% US, 10% Other
– Mid/Late seed/Pre-Series A, Series A, ideally alongside VC/Family office
– We differentiate from others in providing high quality due diligence

Primary criteria we assess:
– founders with relevant experience and expertise (founder-market fit)
– traction and product-market fit
– market size and timing
– valuation

FAQ

A syndicate is a group of investors (like an investment club) that pools their capital to invest into deals via a special purpose Vehicle (SPVs). As a member of the Finwise 4D investor syndicate, you’ll be invited to deals that you can choose to invest in on a deal-by-deal basis. 

We use the Odin platform to syndicate our deals. In order to invest through the Odin platform, you must be a “Self-certified sophisticated investor” or High Net Worth Investor, and meet the requirements set out in article 23A of the Promotion of Collective Investment Schemes Order, by the FCA

 

The “sophisticated investor” standards vary between countries, but to invest on the Odin platform all investors must at least meet UK requirements. Non-U.K. investors should also review the standards under their local law.For example, the “Accredited Investor” standard for US investors.

For the deals we present to syndicate members, the minimum ticket size is €10K. 

We do not charge any management or subscription fees from syndicate members. When you invest in a deal, you will only be charged 2.5% of your total investment amount + the SPV fees charged by the Odin platform.  This is upfront and once-off.

The syndicate is operating on a success fee solely, in the form of a carried interest. We charge 20% of the future profits you gain from an investment you made via the syndicate. This way we only earn upside when you are.

The companies we invest in exit through M&A, secondary transactions or IPO.  An M&A transaction means that the companies is acquired by another company. A secondary transaction means that a later stage investor offers to buy out earlier investors.

An IPO is a initial public offering on a stock exchange.

This is company specific but we are looking for companies that have the potential to exit in a 5-7 year period.

We are experienced angels and have extensive experience scaling startups as an operator We’re happy to discuss this, reach out to schedule a call.

Unlike funds, syndicates do not apply a return hurdle but also you are not subject to 2% annual management fees that funds charge.

– we primarily invest in founders and are therefore looking for exceptional founders, ideally serial entrepreneurs with exit experience, an international mindset and strong sales skills

– we have most experience in B2B SaaS, Fintech so most of our deals will be in that category but we can look at other ‘tech’ verticals on a case by case basis

 

– we concentrate on companies that are already revenue generating, at the moment where they can demonstrate tentative product-market fit and are ready to take off (‘de-risking’)

– reasonable valuations with significant upside potential (target >10x): we do not want to overpay

– we are looking for highly scalable companies in large addressable market

– target geographic focus: 60% Western Europe (UK/IRL, Benelux, France, Germany, Nordics), 30% US, 10% Other

– Mid/Late seed/Pre-Series A, Series A, ideally alongside VC/Family office

We provide our LP network with high-quality, hand-picked deal flow which we have fully researched.  Our incentives are aligned with the investors as we only earn an upside when you are.

 

We are invested in all deals.

Our investors range from existing angel investors seeking additional deal flow, executives interested in venture capital but not having the time to be a full time angel investor, CEOs of startups with liquidity from exit events.

Syndicates offer the possibility to invest with much lower amounts than traditional angels and allow you to build a diversified portfolio easier.  Research over a long period indicate an average return in excess of 20% IRR on a diversified angel portfolio.  However, this can only be obtained by investing in many deals (ideally 20 or more). Syndicates make angel investing a lot more democratic

Your shares are held in custody by a UK limited company that acts as a Special Purpose Vehicle (“SPV”). The SPV hold the shares or share-like instruments in trust on the behalf of the investors using a UK Bare Trust Structure. This is a legal agreement in which you as beneficiary haven immediate and absolute right to both capital and income of the trust. The trustee must follow the instructions of the beneficiary in relation to the assets in trust and has no discretion over the assets. The trust is tax transparent, so you pay tax according to the rules of the country where you are tax resident. You do not have any UK tax liability.

 

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We stay in touch with our portfolio companies and will share investor updates every three to six months and ad-hoc if needed.

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Finwise Ltd
25 Holmwood,Dublin D18 RX49, Ireland

+353 1 906 9340
info@finwise.com

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