How FiSMA Works
What is FiSMA?
FiSMA is a website for helping Investors and Entrepreneurs to communicate in virtual project rooms. Entrepreneurs can promote their ideas to Investors. Investors can browse anonymously at investment opportunities and make contact with other like-minded Investors if they wish. If they like the look of a project they can make contact with an Entrepreneur.
If you register you can create a project room where you can upload private or public documents for view by other users or members of your team. Room visitors can chat online or by Skype about your project and they can also post public messages or send private messages. For more information see About Fisma - Communication methods.
The idea behind FiSMA is to encourage enterprise in the UK. It is a not-for-profit organisation run by ex-City lawyers where investors can group together to review, rate and invest in potential investment opportunities. Entrepreneurs get to promote their businesses online. All this is done in a way which fully complies with the complexities of UK financial services law. For further information see FAQs.
There is a special section on FiSMA called TomsLaw which is a free library of legal precedents which you may find useful for example in achieving a private equity investment in your company. The precedents in TomsLaw have been developed by the owners of FiSMA who are solicitors specialised in private equity law who have recently given up practising in the City of London after many years to concentrate on helping Entrepreneurs and Investors.
Information for Entrepreneurs
If you are an Entrepreneur you can use your virtual project room to showcase your business idea to investors. All you have to do is register. As an Entrepreneur you will be able to showcase your idea to all Investors registered with FiSMA although you will not be able to see the identities of Investors unless they request to make contact with you. For legal reasons, you will only be able to see your own project rooms.
Visitors to your virtual project room can enter the room and view your public documents. If they want to see your confidential documents they must request access at which point you get to see their basic FiSMA profile and they have to accept a confidentiality agreement. Investors who like you project can make contact with you, with a view to negotiating a potential investment.
Information for Investors
If you are a high net worth individual or sophisticated investor and are able to self certify you may register on FiSMA as an Investor. Registration is free. You will be able to use FiSMA to search for the types of investment opportunities which interest you and browse anonymously. Your details will be invisible to Entrepreneurs unless you request access to their confidential documents [link to about us]. At that point you will reveal your FiSMA profile to that particular Entrepreneur who can grant you access to their confidential documents.
Investors can themselves create project rooms, for example if they want to form a group of investors with complementary skills or similar investment goals. Investors can also use project rooms if they themselves have a business opportunity to promote.
To report a technical problem please email technical@fisma.org.
and FiSMA are registered trademarks in the United Kingdom.