About Finerva

Adam and Ben’s Finerva story

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Finerva’s vision is to see the UK as home to the fastest growing companies in the world. We do this by bringing together fast-growing businesses with a trusted network of specialist advisers in finance, accounting, tax and beyond.

Our purpose is to give clients the best possible advice in the form of simple, clear and actionable recommendations.

It’s based on what the legendary investor Michael Moritz, wrote in an email to Adam:

“… don’t go to business school, don’t go to an investment bank. Get involved in the rough and tumble of the real world.”

That’s what we did! Finerva encapsulates our vision of what a modern accounting and financial advisory business should be.

Our purpose is supported by our four core values:

  1. RESPONSIVE – we respond to the needs of our clients in professional and timely ways.
  2. COLLABORATIVE – we work as a team with clients, colleagues and associates, listening and supporting and being flexible around family life.
  3. SIMPLE – we keep our advice clear and straightforward, so our clients can focus on what’s important.
  4. OPEN – our costs and timelines are visible and we do not to shy away from the delivery of good or bad news.

We believe this creates business relationships based on trust. We aim to do this in ways that are refreshingly different to what others might expect from an accountancy firm.

The reward is seeing the businesses we advise grow and thrive. Not only is this great for everyone involved, it’s fantastic for the UK economy.

High-growth businesses don’t get the level of support they need or deserve from traditional accountancy firms. There is a huge amount of entrepreneurial energy in the UK and a great deal of this is invested in technology innovation and commercialisation. Things that we are both believers and advocates of.

We want to help our clients achieve their vision. That requires building an ecosystem for them that makes professional services faster, smarter, and more rewarding for SMEs and professionals alike.

We’re also a part of DFK UK & Ireland, a prominent association of independent accounting firms.

What is Finerva’s story?

Adam and Ben trained together as graduates at PwC London from 2005 to 2008. On qualifying, their paths diverged – Ben via management consulting, and senior finance roles and BskyB and Bupa; Adam in boutique mid-market M&A and then as CFO of an InsurTech business, which grew and successfully sold to a NYSE InsurTech group.

In 2017 they co-founded Finerva. Minerva is the Roman goddess of wisdom and strategy and so Finerva is the fusion of this with our financial expertise.

Our clients are innovators and rapid growth, scalable businesses, primarily in the tech, life science and consumer sectors. Most are backed by Angels or Venture Capitalists. The Founders we work with are ambitious to build big businesses, fast!

What is Finerva most passionate about?

Of course, we get excited about seeing our clients grow and reaching their full potential but we don’t believe this is possible unless they are advised by colleagues who feel valued and respected. The two go hand in hand.

Our ability to be responsive and proactive with our clients is based on the confidence and wellbeing of our team. We know they are excellent at what they do, so what we are passionate about is the level of care and support they give our clients.

It’s something we constantly monitor and we’re always looking at how to improve our level of service. We believe that our continued business growth is due to the treatment and respect that is given to both advisors and clients.

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    • - Dave Cook - Mason & Cook

      “Apart from being extremely experienced and knowledgeable in M&A transactions Finerva were very patient and always used language I understood. They gave me confidence and security and I knew they were working for my best interests.”

    • - Antony Tikhonov - Seedrs

      “Finerva team are always fast to pick up conversations with the entrepreneurs and understand their needs. Many of them leave us very positive feedback after cooperation with Adam and his team.”

    • - Julian Swan - PlasmaTrack

      ”We were very happy with the support we received in our early stages of setting the business up. Specifically the creation of a financial model which formed part of our Angel Investment pitching.”

    • - Philip Barnes - Auxita

      ”Knowledge and responsiveness are the two words that I tell people most who ask me about Finerva. Operating a company from Australia with Finerva helping in the UK, gives me confidence.”

    • - Steve Cleverley - Oxentia

      ”I’ve always been impressed by the knowledge, professionalism, & level of service provided by Finerva. Thoroughly recommended for any SME’s financial support.”

    • - Helen Jackson - GripAble

      “Finerva are a great resource – the whole team have been, and continue to be, supportive in all circumstances across the broad spectrum of financial services. I feel that I can always pick up the phone and get a response on a timely basis and a reasonable price. You have also been extremely patient given the intense nature of our growth stage!”

    • Complete technology group logo - Mark Burrows - Complete Technology Group

      ”Finerva are an excellent partner both for start ups and more mature organisations. Their ability to work with you and help with the challenges you meet as you scale indicates a real partnership approach.”

    • - Nicola Koronka - Missive

      We’ve switched from a top 10 firm to Finerva and have immediately felt the difference. The team understand small business finance and offer strategic yet practical counsel.”

    • - James Ballard - Soar Running

      “Finerva have assisted us on multiple investment rounds. On every occasion the financial models we have built have stood up to the test after many professional investors scrutinized them.”

    • - Gary McKay – APPII

      “Knowing that Finerva understand the pressures of starting a new business is very reassuring.”

    • - Chris Ward – Klive Agency

      “Finerva are very much a partner to Klive and not a supplier. If you are a start up, time starved, focused on building client and customer relationships then trust them to manage your bookkeeping and tax affairs with diligence, accuracy and passion.”

    • - Riya Pabari – Founders Academy

      “Finerva is a fantastic source of insight and strategic counsel over the EIS/SEIS fundraising process – always responsive, clear and thoughtful.”

    • - Haydn Brooks – Risk Ledger

      “R&D Tax Credits – an easy service and good price. Ben put up with my constant questioning and poor writing skills so highly recommended!”

    • - Phil Barry – Blokur

      “Finerva provided excellent advice on structure for our EMI share option scheme, especially when negotiating a fair tax valuation with HMRC.”

    • - James Hadley - Immersive Labs

      “Thank you! You and the team were great for our initial lift off and it has been an amazing experience!”

    • - Sally Smith - My Clinical Outcomes

      “Finerva drove and delivered a highly efficient R&D process from start to finish with a quick turnaround time to receipt of HMRC repayment.”

    • - James Beddows - RIDEto

      “Finerva do things differently – at one of their investor evenings we found an investor who is also a former FTSE100 Executive.”

    • - Gretchen Lennon - Lennon Legal

      ”Finerva is my go-to recommendation for clients looking for advice on EIS matters. They combine top-quality technical knowledge with a commercial, practical approach.”

    • - Bill Cogan - Seven Legal

      “Our clients are consistently impressed with Finerva’s expertise, responsiveness and commercial approach to the more complex EIS support required by fast growth clients.”

    • - Sam Bartholomew - All Mountain Rental

      “The team at Finerva helped with valuable advice regarding a nascent, but relatively complex M&A deal. They understood the pertinent issues quickly and were able to offer valuable perspective from other industries to help us define and refine our understanding of the economics of the trade. Highly recommended.”

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