• Frank Daly, partner at RW Blears, presents the 2016 Best SEIS Investment Manager Award to Symvan Capital
• Symvan Capital named Best SEIS Investment Manager at the second annual Growth Investor Awards
• Iain Wright MP and Lord Karan Bilimoria CBE highlight the importance of tax-efficient investments and value of supporting UK SMEs

Symvan Capital won the highly coveted Best SEIS Investment Manager award at the 2016 Growth Investor Awards. The award, sponsored by RW Blears, was open to any investment manager specialising in Seed Enterprise Investment Schemes, and was judged on investment volume, impact on the investee company, product development and adviser outreach.

The award was presented to Symvan Capital by Frank Daly, partner of RW Blears. Symvan Capital fought off strong competition from Daedalus Partners and Oxford Technology.

Daniel Kiernan, Research Director at Intelligent Partnership, explained why the judging panel selected Symvan Capital: “An early leader in SEIS funding, with a strong track record, Symvan impressed judges with the levels of support for investee businesses, which go much further than funding, taking companies from the earliest stages of growth to established businesses.”

Frank Daly, Partner at RW Blears LLP, commented: “Since SEIS was launched in 2012, 4,660 individual companies have received investment through the scheme and £424m in investment has been raised, according to HMRC. Like SEIS, the Growth Investor Awards has quickly established itself as an important part of the alternative investment landscape. RW Blears supports both in encouraging more alternative investment managers to look seriously at investment in start-ups – providing a much needed boost to our entrepreneurial community.”

The night also featured keynote speeches that highlighted to importance of companies using tax advantaged venture capital schemes to help them scale up quickly, as well the need to support SMEs that are creating jobs, generating tax revenue and helping to drive Britain’s economic recovery.

Iain Wright, MP for Hartlepool and Chairman of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Select Committee, said: “Venture capital initiatives like the EIS, SEIS and the Angel Co Fund should not be tinkered with, but instead widely promoted and become a truly stable if not permanent part of the access to finance ecosystem.” Lending his weight to the campaign: “I hope the Growth Investor Awards can continue to scale up, to go from strength to strength and show the positive impact that the SME investment community is having in generating growth, jobs and wealth.”