John Thorpe (pictured), Business Line Manager for EIS at Octopus Investments, comments on new HMRC statistics showing that 2,770 companies raised a total of GBP1,529 million of funds under the EIS scheme during 2013-14…
As the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) celebrates its 21st birthday this year, these latest figures show EIS are now a mature, established asset class and a critical source of funding for many UK smaller companies. EIS fundraising is going from strength to strength, with the total amount raised last year up a significant 48 per cent on the previous year. Over the years our EIS investors have helped support UK smaller businesses, some of which have become household names like Zoopla Property Group and Graze.
Increasingly, entrepreneurial smaller businesses in the UK are looking to EIS investors to help provide the capital they need to meet their growth potential. Access to finance remains a key issue for these types of businesses with the Octopus High Growth Small Business Report 2015 revealing that one in four of the country’s fastest-growing smaller companies are finding it difficult to secure the funding they need. Equally, these figures demonstrate how investors are realising the benefits that EIS offer as part of a well-balanced portfolio, as well as the role they play in supporting the next generation of UK businesses. We anticipate demand will continue to rise in the light of recent legislation changes around pensions, including the new restrictions affecting the lifetime allowance.
