Pictured (L-R) Halo Director, Alan Watts and William Smith, Managing Director of Sembarc, at the recent ‘Angels – Beacons of Hope’ exhibition at Victoria Square.

Halo – Northern Ireland’s Business Angel network – has announced the launch of the first ever Business Angel EIS Fund worth a quarter of a million pounds.

Based at the Northern Ireland Science Park – Halo is the first business angel network associated with a highly tax efficient fund of this kind. The fund – which is managed by London-based Fund Manager Javelin Ventures – will provide much needed capital for local entrepreneurs in a bid to help grow NI’s business community. The money in the fund has been provided by Halo angels and allows them to spread their investment across a number of NI companies while also adding to the ‘firepower’ when Halo angels invest directly in these firms.

Halo Director, Alan Watts, said: “Angel investment is an important investment class helping to channel funds into the vital but high risk area of start-up companies. Halo aims to grow the investment community here and support innovation in the region – schemes like this encourage more angels to become involved and importantly make it ‘easier’ for new angels to take their first plunge.”