How Finerva supported Odin Vision over the years – from a Start-up to an $80m Exit

Odin Vision is an  Artificial Intelligence (AI) company founded by a team of eminent clinicians and artificial intelligence experts from the world-renowned Welcome/EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences at University College London. Recently, Odin Vision has been acquired by Olympus, a leading global MedTech company. 

Odin uses cloud and AI medical devices to create a new era of healthcare by supporting doctors to deliver higher-quality care leading to improved patient outcomes, better patient experiences and increased value for healthcare providers. They aim to provide state-of-the-art AI-enabled software applications for endoscopic procedures to aid clinicians in the detection and diagnosis of disease.

EIS Advance Assurance

Finerva first met Odin Vision in 2019. The start-up was seeking to raise investment and needed support with the EIS/SEIS scheme, one of the popular start-ups and scale-ups tax relief schemes that encourage investment into early-stage, unlisted companies. 

Adam Brodie, Co-Founder of Finerva, and the EIS/SEIS team supported Odin Vision with the preparation and submission of obtaining their Advance Assurance for SEIS and EIS as well as practical advice along the way on fundraising. 

Finerva drafted and submitted the application and supporting materials within a couple of days using our experience to pre-empt likely HMRC questions to minimise any delays. 

Odin Vision EIS application was approved and their investors were able to receive up to 30% of income tax relief in addition to encouraging further investment from UK Angels and VCs in the future. Additionally, where Odin’s EIS investors held their shares for more than 3 years, they will be paying NO tax on their gain from the sale.

Bookkeeping & vCFO Support

Odin Vision and Finerva’s relationship continued ever since. 

Whilst being leading healthcare and AI experts, they needed the support of experts when it came to support for keeping track of their finances and ensuring books and records were kept up to date to allow the business owner to their business and access real-time information.

Finerva offered Odin Vision its Core Accounting package, which includes:

1. Monthly Xero bookkeeping;

2. Visibility of P&L, balance sheet and transactions (separated by grant & Master report);

3. Payroll, real-time information reporting and year-end returns;

4. VAT returns and filing;

5. Annual Accounts preparation and filing;

6. Corporation Tax Return;

7. Advice on ad hoc matters;

8. Account Manager to ensure timely responses and support.

In addition, Odin Vision required more tailored support with its bookkeeping. The start-up received a lot of grant support and needed to ensure that all of its internal costs were allocated from the right grants to ensure they are compliant. In addition, It also needed to provide supported documentation around those grants expenditure  

Odin Vision also had weekly meetings with the bookkeeper to make the process more sufficient and address any questions.

From 2020, Odin Vision needed additional support in managing the complexities of growing business finances. Finerva stepped in and offered vCFO service that helped Odin with decision-making from our board-level vCFOs without hiring a full-time CFO themselves.

Finerva’s vCFO service included:

• On-going review of finance processes and operations to ensure their grant reporting is accurate and efficient.
• Overseeing the activity of the Account Manager/Bookkeeper and reviewing month-end reporting.
• Preparation of monthly cash flow reporting taking into account the timing of grant payments and expenses. This gave Odin Vision a clear view of the cash burn rate.
• Produced a Spend To Date/Spend To Go report for each grant.
• Assessed processes and controls to ensure that the company’s finance management is working effectively in advance of future funding rounds.
• Monthly management account meeting to review financial position and discuss any finance or commercial-related matters.

As part of our Core Accounting package, we offered annual accounts preparation and filing, working closely with Rowena Wattrus and her team. 

Our bookkeeping & accountancy support during the years ensured that Odin Vision’s financial matters were in good shape and provided Founders with an opportunity to spend more time and focus on what mattered at the time – the product and fundraising.

R&D Tax Credits

In 2020 and subsequently, in 2021, Odin Vision also received Finerva’s R&D Tax Relief support provided by Ben Rule. R&D Tax Credits are part of a Government scheme that allows SMEs to reclaim up to 33% of the amount spent on Research and Development even if a company make a loss.

Finerva advised Odin Vision on eligibility for R&D Tax Credits, extracted the financial and technical data with minimal disruption to their business, and drafted a technical narrative. During the process, Finerva also responded to all queries against challenges from HMRC.

In both years, Finerva was able to secure Odin Vision R&D credits claim to the maximum amount. 

Tax Advice 

Over the years, Finerva, especially Rowena Wattrus & Fiona Cross in recent years, also offered various tax advice to Odin Vision. 

Fiona Cross, Head of Tax, provided tax advice to Odin throughout its sale and in particular on the deal structure, SPA and impact on share option schemes.

We also supported Odin Vision with EMI scheme documentation that allowed Odin Vision to grant share options to employees tax-efficiently.

Our close relationships allowed us to advise Odin Vision along the way, depending on their business needs at the time.

Over the last 4 years, Finerva and Odin Vision had a strong relationship and we’re delighted to see the growth of our client. The company has raised several rounds of financing and eventually was acquired by Olympus. 

Peter Mountney:

”Finerva over the years offered us a variety of services and support which is very beneficial for start-ups and scale-ups that often are lacking time and needs specific support. A special thanks go to Ben Rule, who ensured timely support and communication in addition to his R&D services. I would highly recommend Finerva to any innovative business owner who is looking for a piece of advice on various financial matters.”