Due to the potential for losses, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) considers a number of investments on our platform to be complex and high risk. As a regulated company we are therefore required to ensure all customers are aware of the potential risks of investing:

What are the key risks?

You could lose all the money you invest (Relevant for all investments)

If the business offering this investment fails, there is a high risk that you will lose all your money. Businesses like this often fail as they usually use risky investment strategies.

Advertised rates of return aren’t guaranteed. This is not a savings account. If the issuer doesn’t pay you back as agreed, you could earn less money than expected or nothing at all. A higher advertised rate of return means a higher risk of losing your money. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

You are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong (Relevant for all investments)

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.

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.

You won’t get your money back quickly (Particularly relevant for Venture Capital Funds)

This type of business could face cash-flow problems that delay payments to investors. It could also fail altogether and be unable to repay any of the money owed to you.

You are unlikely to be able to cash in your investment early by selling your investment. In the rare circumstances where it is possible to sell your investment in a ‘secondary market’, you may not find a buyer at the price you are willing to sell.

You may have to pay exit fees or additional charges to take any money out of your investment early.

The value of your investment can be reduced (Relevant for Venture Capital Deals)

If your investment is shares, 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.

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.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket (Relevant for individual Venture Capital or Real Estate Deals)

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. You can do this by choosing to invest in the various funds that Cur8 Capital offers rather than individual deals.

A good rule of thumb is not to invest more than 10% of your money in high-risk investments.

This is a complex investment (Venture Capital, Real Estate and Fixed Income Funds)

This kind of investment has a complex structure based on other risky investments, which makes it difficult for the investor to know where their money is going.

This makes it difficult to predict how risky the investment is, but it will most likely be high.

You may wish to get financial advice before deciding to invest.