New figures released by HRMC show a 39% year-on-year increase in EIS funding in 2021/22, with total investment through the scheme reaching £2.3bn ($2.8bn) – the highest since the scheme began.
The scheme, which brings together private investors with companies that need funds to scale up operations, supported 4,480 companies in the year, a 19% increase on 2020/21.
Money invested through the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS), which invests in earlier stage start-ups, rose 16%, increasing to a record £205 million, spread across 2,270 companies (another record).
Of these, 80% were raising money for the first time and companies registered in London and the Southeast accounted for 67% of all the SEIS investment.
Since the Enterprise Investment Scheme launched in 1994, 36,145 individual companies have received investment and around £27.9 billion of funds have been raised in total. Whereas, 17,335 companies have raised £1.7 billion under SEIS since its launch in 2012/13.
The number of investors claiming EIS relief rose 15.7% to 45,155, while 9,950 investors claimed SEIS relief, up 4.8%. Across both EIS and SEIS, over half of investors invested less than £10,000.
