Client case study: SenseOn – A Revolutionary Cybersecurity Platform

SenseOn, founded in 2017 by David Atkinson, aims to tackle the biggest challenges in the cybersecurity industry and rebuild cyber defense from the ground up. Its co-founders comprise cybersecurity experts, former government cyber operatives, and applied machine learning specialists.

The company developed a groundbreaking cybersecurity platform to address future cyber risks, including malware, ransomware, and zero-day attacks. In 2021, the UK-headquartered scale-up announced its $20 million Series A fundraising led by Eight Roads Ventures, with participation from existing investors MMC Ventures, Crane Venture Partners, and Winton Ventures Limited.

How Finerva Supported SenseOn

Adam Brodie and David Atkinson, CEO of SenseOn, were introduced in 2017 when SenseOn sought support to acquire SEIS & EIS Advance Assurance to attract investment from UK Angels. The Finerva team provided advice on SEIS and EIS considerations for the fundraising. They structured, drafted, and submitted the application and supporting materials, leveraging their experience to anticipate likely HMRC questions and minimise delays.

Finerva also provided a bespoke tax valuation, addressing the different types of valuation evaluated by HMRC’s Share and Assets Valuation Team.

Additionally, SenseOn received support from Finerva to set up their EMI Scheme, a UK Government initiative for eligible companies to offer tax-efficient share options to employees, incentivising and retaining top talent.

Since 2020, SenseOn has engaged with Finerva for monthly Finance as a Service, led by Seema Kher. The service initially included cloud and mobile-based bookkeeping, payroll and year-end returns, VAT returns, annual accounts, and corporation tax returns. As SenseOn grew and expanded, Finerva provided fractional CFO support, and later assisted their full-time CFO in building the internal finance function. Finerva continues to provide support services to the CFO and Financial Controller and serves as a trusted advisor on tax and corporate finance matters, particularly involving equity and debt funding and equity incentives.

Adam commented: “We’re really proud to have worked with SenseOn for so many years. SenseOn is a great example of managing growth and funding requirements to other tech businesses with ambitions to move into and through the venture capital investment rounds. When they needed to be, Dave and his team during COVID were extremely agile, prudent and innovative with their funding thinking and execution. Something they have continued since fuelling their growth”.

David commented: “If you want to build a strong company, you need to act from day 1. Bringing on board solid people and partners is crucial and gives you confidence. The people they brought in for financial due diligence was the best in all categories. Finerva is a great finance partner for hyper-growth tech businesses like ours. They have specialist skillsets in the finance areas which matter most to us – CFO support (modelling, management support and investor relations), accounting and Tax (EIS, equity incentives and R&D Tax credits). Their funding advice during the pandemic helped extend our runway allowing more time to find the right Series A investors. We would recommend them to any tech business with high growth and scaling aspirations”.