Invest

Signalise is raising £150,000 via community shares to carry on building our technology, infrastructure and improve our cash flow over the next few years. This builds on the success of our previous offer in 2021 - find out more about how you can support our ground-breaking work below.

Thank you to the 203 investors who between them invested £328,250 into Signalise in 2021! Now you can help us power up!

We are hugely proud of the trust placed in us by our amazing investor community, which enabled us to hit the ground running in 2021 and set up the foundations of everything we needed to bid for public sector contracts. In the last three years, we have achieved 13 NHS contracts and are now supplying many more organisations with interpreters in the North West of England and beyond. The feedback we get from Deaf people, communications professionals and NHS and public sector customers is wholly, enthusiastically positive - our investors' support made that happen. If you invested, thank you.

Working with NHS and other public sector contracts brought more requirements than we had anticipated - technical, governance and procedural. This means that we've had to divert time towards meeting those requirements, and so other key parts of our service have progressed more slowly than we'd planned. With the foundations firmly in place now, we're ready to realise the remaining parts of the revolutionary vision that we have been working towards for so long. Our ambitions remain huge. We are the only community-owned interpreting business in the UK, creating tech aimed at benefiting all users: Deaf people, communication professionals and all types of customers.

Our social impact is proven. We are finally giving Deaf users more choice and control in how they access interpreters and supporting all parts of the system. Solutions and change do not come overnight and we have much left to do. Today, we are offering another opportunity to invest in a better future for interpreting services and those who use them. Your help will make it happen.

You can download the full share offer document to see more about why we are raising finance and what we plan to do with it. Please read this before you invest.

You can invest in Signalise using the payment links below which will take you to a secure payment page. If you want to invest more than £500 please let us know and we can send you information for a bank transfer.

Remember you can claim 30% tax relief via EIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme) so if you invest £100 you can reduce your tax liablity by £30 via your self assessment in the current tax year or the one previous.

If you invest £500, you can claim £150 in tax relief and so on...

You can also use EIS to delay paying Capital Gains Tax but please take financial advice if you are considering this.

For the full FAQs please see our Share Offer Document

Do I have to become a Member in order to support you?

Investor Members are people who support Signalise Co-op's aims and vision and also want to join us to support the co-op’s vision and in so doing, become an owner of the business. If you just want to donate to us, you can, but you don’t get to become an owner of the business.

What's a community share?

Community shares are a special type of capital available to co-operatives. Shares cannot be sold, traded or transferred between Members, unlike shares in a typical company, but can be withdrawn (in effect bought back by the business and the money returned to you) if we’re trading profitably. Between making your investment and getting it back, Members can be paid interest on their shares if the board believes it is affordable to do so.

How do I get my money back?

Each year, Signalise’s Board will review the financial position, considering our future cash flow and prospects. If we have traded profitably enough to have sufficient funds, we can make a certain portion in the region of 1 - 10% of our total capital available to be withdrawn on a first-come, first-served basis.

Can the Value of the Investment go down or up?

No Capital Gain is possible,so the shares will never rise in value. They may be revised down as part of an annual audit if our auditors believe the value of our underlying assets is insufficient.

Can I sell or transfer my shares?

The only circumstance where you may transfer your shares is if you die. This can be handled by the terms of your will, but any investment you hold below £5,000 can be transferred directly without the need to refer to your will if you tell us who you want the shares to be transferred to when you die.

Is the community share offer regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority?

A. No. It’s not covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and there is no right of complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. The money is invested at risk – but this risk makes us eligible for Enterprise Investment Scheme tax relief.

Can I invest on behalf of a child?

Sadly not. Anyone over the age of 16 can invest (but only people aged 18 or above can serve as directors).

What if Signalise becomes insolvent?

If we did become insolvent, the ability of investors to recover their invested funds hinges on two main factors: firstly, the value realised from the sale of our assets by us or the appointed insolvency practitioners, and secondly, the extent of our debts at that time. Should insolvency or orderly winding-up occur, the proceeds from asset sales and available cash would initially be allocated to settle all outstanding debts owed to creditors. Any remaining funds would then be utilised to reimburse shareholders to the fullest extent possible, on a proportional basis according to their outstanding investment amounts. To be completely honest and totally realistic, the assets we will have are our contracts to deliver services from various agencies, and our technology. The contracts would end if we became insolvent, and our technology has been designed by us, for us and so is very difficult to identify whether it would be of value to anyone else.

As a cooperative society founded on the principles of common ownership, our regulations state that any surplus funds, after reimbursing investors, must be directed towards another organisation that supports the cooperative movement and shares a similar commitment to common ownership.

What if I don't get my investment back in full?

Investors who have claimed tax relief would also be eligible to claim loss relief against their tax liability for the difference between what they have already invested less any tax relief already claimed, and what was returned to them. So, let’s say someone has invested £1,000 and then they can claim 30% of it against their income tax, reducing their tax bill by £300, meaning they have invested £1,000 at a cost to them ultimately of £700. Let’s say we then become insolvent and everyone gets just 10% of their investment back money back. So, they get back £100, and as far as HMRC are concerned, that means the investor has lost the £700 it actually cost them less the £100 they got back, so they can declare a £600 loss against their tax liability in the tax year year the loss occurred (the same is true if the value of shares is written down on the instruction of our auditors).

Do I have to do anything as an Investor Member?

All Members sign up to the Members' Commitment and agree to abide by Signalise Co-op's rules. You can attend general meetings which are the Annual General Meeting for members and other general meetings held throughout the year. These are usually virtual but may occasionally be in person.

Would I become liable for anything?

No, once you have invested, you aren’t liable for anything else. If in the 12 months after you withdraw your funds Signalise were to become insolvent, if the Insolvency Practitioner appointed to wind us up thinks the Board shouldn’t have allowed that money to be returned to you, they can take steps to demand it back from you.

What's different about being an Investor Member compared to the other types?

Investor Members support the co-op but are not directly involved in the day-to-day business and their decision-making power is limited to 10% of any vote at our AGM. The other 90% is cast by those involved in giving and receiving interpreting services. Read more about the different membership categories here.

Can I change my membership category?

Yes, if you work for Signalise Co-op, or are an interpreter or a Deaf person living in the North West you can change your category of membership from Investor Member to one of these categories of membership. This will then give you stronger voting rights e.g. ‘One Member, One Vote' voting rights.

Can I see what you spend the money on?

Yes. For those who have invested, all essential documents will be provided to enable well-informed decisions. Upon becoming an Investor Member, whether through donation or investment, you will receive quarterly reports detailing expenditure.