EIS

The Enterprise Investment Scheme

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The government offers significant incentives to eligible investors to invest in private equity. These incentives strongly encourage investing and around £1.5 billion a year is invested.  The scheme has been an important part of the economy for so long because it works. EIS companies are in sectors where the government is stimulating economic growth. Private equity is high risk but it offers the potential for the highest returns in the market.

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Incentives for EIS investors

 

No Capital Gains Tax

 

Income Tax Rebates (30%)

For every £100,000 invested you receive £30,000 cash from HMRC. The rebate can be applied to this year's or last year's income tax bill and is a huge cash incentive.

 

Loss Relief (variable)

Our article "Understanding EIS Loss Protection: A Complete Guide to Investor Risk Exposure" outlines the variables. Total exposure can be reduced significantly. See the article here. ​

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The scheme has ran for thirty years

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The government’s 2023-2024 EIS annual report published May 2025 is summarised in our article "EIS & SEIS in 2025: A Comprehensive Overview" which can be found here. It provides links to the original government report and outlines that in the last tax year 3,780 companies raised over £1.5 billion from eligible UK taxpaying investors. The UK Investment Agency is part of this busy market.

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The EIS Association raises awareness (www.EISA.org.uk). There is a case study in their latest report, of a company called Oxgene which provided returns of x13 to x20. Deliveroo started as an EIS raise and their IPO valued them at £7.6 billion, also covered. Examples of other EIS companies with big public success stories include businesses like Guosto which is now worth over £1.4 billion and Revolut, which now has a valuation of over £25 billion and provided returns for EIS investors of over x50. There are many more examples.

 

There is an interesting statistic in the government report:

 

“In thirty years, £32 billion has been invested into companies that have generated £192 billion in just the last decade."​​​​