The latest news in investment offerings, financial products and other services relevant to wealth advisors and their clients.

Angel Academe
Angel Academe, a UK-based angel network that has been investing in women leaders for over 10 years, has launched the UK’s first female-founder focused Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) fund in partnership with fund manager, SyndicateRoom.

The fund offers early stage investors the opportunity to take part in this high-return asset class, for £10,000 ($13, 500) – alongside experienced angels – while accessing a range of EIS tax benefits, including 30 per cent income tax relief on up to £1 million invested, and capital gains deferral. 

Studies by Boston Consulting Group and the Kauffman Foundation have shown that women-run businesses are more capital efficient and can deliver higher return on investment (ROI) than male-founded startups, the firm said in a statement. In addition, research from academics at the universities of Glasgow and Leicester indicates that companies with more than 30 per cent female executives are more likely to outperform those that don’t have female representation in senior positions, the firm continued.

Despite data showing that investment in female-founded businesses makes commercial sense, there is still a significant gap in the funding that women receive. In the first half of 2024, female founded businesses secured just 1.8 per cent of equity capital (Beauhurst). The fund aims to close that gap by providing female founders with the necessary capital to grow and scale.

“Too often, efforts to address the funding gap have been focused on words rather than actions. In order for women to scale their businesses, they need money, not mentoring. This fund aims to put capital directly into the hands of female founders building innovative businesses,” Sarah Turner (pictured), co-founder and CEO of Angel Academe, said. “It’s not about pledges – it’s about action. This is just the start and we aim to grow this initiative into a larger, annual fund to support even more innovative companies whilst addressing the funding gap in the years to come.”

The Angel Academe EIS fund is open for investment with the objective of co-investing in female-founded tech startups alongside Angel Academe angels from the fourth quarter of this year. The fund aims to raise £1.2 million in the first year and grow from there.

Nutmeg
Nutmeg, the JP Morgan-owned digital wealth manager, has partnered with JP Morgan Asset Management (JPMAM) to offer a range of five risk-rated Income Investing Portfolios this month.

The new portfolio range, exclusively available to Nutmeg clients, uses a number of JPMAM actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) including an innovative strategy in the US – The JP Morgan Equity Premium Income family of ETFs. The UK-listed equivalent ETFs serve as the core of the Nutmeg Income Investing strategy, which is an actively managed income portfolio built for a client’s risk appetite and investment timeframe. The new portfolios aim to pay clients regular income, while leaving capital invested in the market. 

The product launch comes as new research from Nutmeg shows that some retail investors are frustrated with the current income investing options available, the firm said in a statement. Nearly one in six UK investors (16 per cent) said they are currently unsatisfied with the income they receive from their investments via dividends and bonds despite over two-thirds saying that generating an income from investing is important to them.

Nutmeg said it will offer an innovative income-smoothing feature to tackle the inconvenience of irregular income payments due to the varying dividend payment schedules of underlying assets. After an initial period, the smoothing mechanism will offer clients greater consistency in the income they receive.  

The Income Investing portfolios will comprise ETFs invested in equities and bonds. The underlying funds are informed by JPMAM expertise and use active ETFs that aim to outperform the benchmark through active overweights and underweights. 

Income Investing Portfolios are available for Nutmeg stocks and shares ISAs and general investment accounts this week. Clients will not pay Nutmeg management fees on their Income Investing pots in 2025. Terms and conditions and other charges apply. The minimum investment is £10,000 ($13,500), and income is not guaranteed.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management
Goldman Sachs Asset Management has launched the Goldman Sachs Emerging Markets Green and Social Bond Active UCITS ETF (GEMS).  

The fund invests mainly in fixed income securities across corporate and sovereign issuers in emerging markets where issuers intend to allocate the proceeds for green and/or social contributions. Share classes of the fund will be listed on exchanges including the London Stock Exchange, Borse Italiana, Deutsche Börse and SIX. 

The investment process combines emerging market debt credit assessment with specific use of proceeds information about green and social contributions. The launch follows Goldman Sachs AM’s recent entry into active exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in EMEA with several fixed income and equity funds, expanding the product range and underscoring the firm’s commitment to making its investment capabilities available through the ETF wrapper.  

“Our clients are showing continued demand for access to leading active capabilities, combined with the control and convenience of ETFs,” Hilary Lopez, head of the EMEA third-party wealth business at Goldman Sachs AM, said.

Goldman Sachs AM manages 59 ETF strategies globally, representing over $40 billion in total assets as of 30 April 2025.