On Thursday 2nd May, the FIG Team was joined by more than 450 guests to celebrate the opening of our new home, FIG Village, in Shepherd’s Bush.

The number of guests far exceeded our expectations and we’re very grateful to everyone who came along to W12 to mark the occasion.

FIG’s Robin McIlvenny, RBS’s Abe Tilling and Deputy Mayor of London for Business and Enterprise, Kit Malthouse, opened the proceedings before demonstrations from a selection of our portfolio companies including Scratch, Tray and Wazoku.

FIG’s Founder and Chairman James King wrapped up the speeches and we all enjoyed music from the talented Juan Zelada as well as cocktails prepared by FIG Village’s Brightsparks staff.

If you haven’t checked out our Facebook page yet, you can see more photos of the event.

Thanks to everyone who joined us for the celebrations and made the evening a great success. If you’d like more information about FIG, the fund, any of our portfolio companies, our student competitions (RBS ESSA and RBS EnterprisingU) or even become part of FIG Village, we’d love to hear form you. Please drop us a line at info@findinvestgrow.com!

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There will be tours, a showcase of our portfolio companies, drinks and canapés.

YOU CAN REQUEST A PLACE ON THE GUEST-LIST BY CLICKING HERE

More information is available below.

The aim of the 2-day event was to bring together the winners of the first rounds of RBS’ Inspiring Enterprise grant funding (across the youth and women sectors) and find out what more can be done to support them.

From the Prince’s Trust to Social Enterprise Support Centre, the event brought diverse range of organisations together and proved an excellent opportunity to see what is happening across the UK.

The second round of Inspiring Youth Enterprise grant funding is now open for entry to not-for-profit organisation that inspires young people to start up in business. Find out more here: http://www.ieapply.rbs.com

The first round of grant funding was awarded in December, with 18 organisations receiving around £500,000 worth of funding.

Applications close on 18th March 2013.

To see if your company is eligible and the potential benefits, we’ve summarised the new rules below:

Who for?

- You may be eligible if you are a company liable to Corporation Tax and if you make a profit from exploiting patented inventions.

- The patent must be owned or exclusively licensed-in by you.

- You can benefit from patent box also if another company in your group developed the patent.

- The patent used must be a UK patent, EU patent or from certain other companies in the EEA.

Benefits

- From 2017/18 you will be taxed at 10% on the profits related to the patent.

- In 2016/17 you will receive only 90% of the tax deduction to 10%; in 2015/16 only 80%; in 2014/15 only 70%; and in 2013/14 only 60%.

- You can backdate relief and if you backdate it from a date with higher relief rate, that higher rate will be applied to the earlier profits.

What profits does it apply to?

The profits which come from revenues from:

- selling patented products – that is sales of the patented product or products incorporating the patented invention or bespoke spare parts

- licensing out patent rights

- selling patented rights

- infringement income

- damages, insurance or other compensation related to patent rights

- Or if you use a manufacturing process that is patented or provide a service using a patented tool. In these circumstances, you will need to calculate a notional royalty.

- It’s going to be really important to ring-fence the relevant revenues and expenses to give certainty.

Other thoughts

- This may make many patents worthwhile when they wouldn’t have been otherwise.

- If you don’t need the cash-flow you might be better off waiting until 2017 before backdating claims.

Any questions? Feel free to comment below. 

This is why today we have launched our manifesto. It’s what we believe the UK needs to do to unleash the power of its young entrepreneurs and match the enthusiasm and talent in our universities with the appropriate financial and operational support.

Our manifesto calls for ten very specific and detailed changes that we know from our own experience will make a real difference, helping create the most fertile ground possible for people to grow their own businesses and contribute to future wealth generation.

Please click on the image below to read our manifesto…

The FIG Manifesto

Agree with the changes we are championing? Leave a comment below or email your support to supportourmanifesto@findinvestgrow.com

If you’ve any questions or suggested additions or amendments we should make, please let us know by emailing qandas@findinvestgrow.com

Get all of the photos from our updated photostream here and keep a look out for an invite to our opening house party!

When complete, the new office will have parking, a shared reception, a large shared kitchen, showers for the resident cyclists, a huge breakout space on the former factory floor and three meeting rooms for the initial 14 offices.

We’ll keep you updated…

There’s been a lot of changes in the place since we first turned the key and popped open the door and there’s still a lot to be done before we move early next year. We snapped a few photos this afternoon:

Our construction crews are hard at work to get our office in gear.

What will eventually be a few swanky offices upstairs.

Hard at work installing the new kitchen.

Stay tuned for more photos of the new space as it progresses!

As Wonga’s CEO Errol Damelin said: “Britain’s future prosperity lies with innovative businesses and entrepreneurs – those who have the courage and determination to reach for the stars and build the growth engines of the future.”

The Future 50 companies were announced on Wednesday evening at an event at the British Library, as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week.

FIG was praised for its new approach to investing in young entrepreneurs at a time when “seed investing is scarce, and investing in first time entrepreneurs is even rarer”. You can read our profile here.

Read the full list of Wonga’s Future 50 class of 2012.