When you invest in young, small firms that qualify for the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) you could generate significant returns if the firm prospers.
But that’s far from certain. Investing in this
kind of business is risky and many will fail. Therefore, to encourage
investment and to temper some of the risk, the government offers some very
generous tax reliefs:
Save up to 30% on your income tax bill – up to £300,000 per year (or £600,000 when investing in knowledge-intensive companies)
Very generous allowance – up to £1 million or £2 million if anything above £1 million is invested in knowledge-intensive companies
Enjoy tax-free growth
Defer capital gains from other investments – potentially indefinitely
Offset any future losses against your income, so you save income tax
Pass on your investment free of IHT
Remember, tax rules can change and tax benefits depend on circumstances.
See all our current EIS offers below – you can filter by type: fund or single company. If you're interested in an offer you don't see here, please get in touch.
Acamar Films Ltd is the independent production company behind Bing, the most successful programme in BBC CBeebies’ digital history. Download the free research report and find out more about the opportunity.
Fourth EIS fund managed by Fuel Ventures, aiming to back some of the UK’s fastest-growing digital businesses and propel them onwards. The fund is managed by successful entrepreneur-turned-investor Mark Pearson.
The MMC EIS Fund focuses on technology-enabled businesses. For instance, it invests in financial and business services, digital media, ecommerce and software solutions for business.
Par EIS is a technology growth EIS fund which co-invests with business angels from Par Equity's well established network. It focuses on the “equity gap” outside London: opportunities that are beyond the reach of an individual business angel but not quite big enough for private equity to be interested.
Parkwalk is an interesting high-growth fund that looks to back patented technology with commercial potential coming out of UK universities. The fee structure incentivises management to seek exits rather than sit on investments.
Calculus Capital has been at the forefront of EIS investing for years, having created the UK’s first approved EIS Fund in 1999. This offer focuses on established businesses with growth potential and will be typically split between eight to ten investments.
The Committed Capital Growth EIS fund will invest in technology-enabled EIS-qualifying companies in opportunities such as fintech, security, electric vehicles, SaaS and education technology.
The Deepbridge Life Sciences EIS offers an opportunity to invest in a selected portfolio of healthcare innovation companies, whilst taking advantage of the EIS tax benefits.
Invests across various technology sectors, including energy, medical and business enterprise software. Transparent – investors can see which underlying companies they will be invested in. Targets a return of £1.60 per £1 invested and should be viewed as at the upper end of the risk scale.
Foresight Group has joined forces with Williams Advanced Engineering: the result is the Foresight Williams Technology EIS Fund. The fund invests into early-stage, unquoted companies that are developing disruptive technology and pioneering innovations, which can benefit from Williams’ technical, engineering and commercial expertise.
Opportunity to co-invest with Seneca and Abcam’s Jonathan Milner in an IP-rich MedTech company. University spinout Gelmetix has developed a potential game-changer in the treatment of spinal disc degeneration – a patented hydrogel injection that could replace surgery, and at c.90% less cost.
Jenson's first SEIS first fund was launched soon after the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme was introduced in 2012. This latest EIS fund offers a mixture of new technology investments and follow-on funding into companies previously backed by Jenson SEIS and EIS funds.
Mercia EIS Fund invests in early-stage technology and life sciences, seeking to commercialise developments from industry and spin-outs from 19 UK universities. It has a focus on the Midlands, the North of England and Scotland.
A new fund from the Nexus team, which has a five-year track record in venture investing. Looks for EIS qualifying companies across four sectors: education, healthy eating, data and digital.
This EIS service invests in later stage, established growth orientated businesses. Each will typically have an annual turnover in the region of £5 million. It is likely investors will invest in a spread of unquoted and AIM listed businesses.
This EIS fund looks to make follow-on investments into the most promising seed companies already backed by SFC, which are transitioning from their “startup” to “growth” phase. The fund co-invests with British Business Investments Ltd, a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank.
Managed by Parkwalk with the University of Bristol Research and Enterprise Development Division (RED) acting as Portfolio Advisor, the University of Bristol Enterprise Fund offers investment opportunities in scientific and technological spin-outs emerging from the University.
Bond Digital Health is a market-leading SaaS medtech company that has developed medical-grade technology to capture and analyse data from diagnostic ‘stick tests’ used for diseases ranging from cystic fibrosis to bovine TB. In a current – and urgent – project, Bond’s technology is being integrated with a mass-deployable lateral flow test specific to Covid-19.
Fast2Fibre has developed patented technology for upgrading broadband copper cabling. It can reduce costs and time by 80% compared to conventional methods and does not require big holes to be dug up, limiting disruption to the minimum. The technology has been trialled by telecom operators, including BT's Openreach and Liberty Global, and expects to sign its first two contracts shortly. Fast2Fibre is raising £1.5 million under EIS to support growth and help deliver on these contracts.
Gobsmack is a subscription-based digital loyalty and rewards business which helps its blue-chip clients retain customers as well as sell more products and services to them. Clients and pipeline include: More Th>n, Admiral and The Post Office.
The Guinness AIM EIS is the only EIS portfolio currently dedicated to AIM-quoted EIS-qualifying companies. It aims to deploy investors’ capital within twelve months.
Launched in 2012, the University of Cambridge Enterprise Fund offers Cambridge alumni and investors opportunities to invest in early-stage science and technology companies as they spin out of Cambridge University.
Fuel Ventures deployed £7.5 million into a combination of new and follow-on investments in March and April, amidst the disruption and uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Now five of its portfolio companies could benefit from ...
Four of the world’s ten best universities are in the UK. As well as seats of learning, many are innovation hubs. In the past, innovation tended to go uncommercialised but this is changing. The University of ...
The team behind the Vala EIS portfolio has been founding and investing in early-stage businesses for years. The fund will invest across a range of sectors from engineering and fintech to media and food & drink. ...
These days investors are overwhelmed with brilliant new ideas promising to be the next big thing. A start-up destined to be the next Facebook; a gadget touting itself as the new iPod; a drug promising to ...
