New Tax Year brings renewed opportunity for growth businesses seeking investment
Each year, the private sector typically invests around £2 billion in some of the UK’s most exciting businesses using the Enterprise Investment Scheme and the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme. The 6th of April marked the start of the new tax year and a renewed opportunity for growth businesses seeking much needed investment through the Schemes.
Christiana Stewart-Lockhart, Director General of the Enterprise Investment Scheme Association (EISA), the member organisation that supports private sector investment into growth businesses, is encouraging qualifying early stage businesses to apply for advance assurance to help enable them to raise money to grow their businesses.
Each year, these Schemes play a vital role in encouraging investment from private individuals to early stage businesses. The Schemes allow investors to claim certain reliefs against their investments in order to help facilitate the flow of capital to high risk, early stage businesses that might otherwise struggle to find investment. Private individuals typically invest around £2 billion a year through the schemes, helping to fuel innovation and create thousands of jobs across the UK. The start of the new tax year effectively releases a further round of available funds. Since inception, the Schemes have attracted more than £25 billion of investment from the private sector and have helped around 40,000 businesses.
Christiana Stewart-Lockhart commented, “Qualifying starts-ups, looking to raise funds, should consider applying for advance assurance. These Schemes are a gamechanger and play a crucial role in helping the UK’s growth businesses to secure vital funds, enabling them to scale and grow. Growth businesses are the lifeblood of the UK economy and the Enterprise Investment Scheme and the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme have played an important role in ensuring that the UK remains one of the most innovative and entrepreneurial countries in the world.”
“Historically, many businesses using the EIS and SEIS Schemes have been based in London and the South East, but the levelling up agenda provides an opportunity to ensure start-ups across the whole of the UK are using the Schemes to help secure investment as we enter the 2022 tax year,” adds Christiana Stewart-Lockhart.
Businesses interested in registering for the scheme should use the Government’s Enterprise Investment Scheme website and those looking to find investors can access the Curated Capital website, which is run by the EISA to showcase businesses ready for investment.