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SEIS/EIS Advance Assurance reassures your investors that theyโll get tax relief in return for supporting your company. That makes it a very useful tool in your talks with potential investors. In fact, by our calculations, two thirds of angel investors wonโt even consider investing in companies that donโt have their SEIS/EIS Advance Assurance.
In this post, weโll explain the steps involved in creating your application, the documents you need and the mistakes to avoid.
The Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS for short) and the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) are two of the UK governmentโs venture capital schemes.
These schemes reward private investors who invest in early-stage companies by giving them tax relief on their investment.
These schemes are so popular in the UK startup scene that many investors expect companies to be pre-approved by HMRC before they consider parting with any money. The pre-approval is called Advance Assurance.
At SeedLegals weโre experts at helping UK startups secure SEIS/EIS Advance Assurance from HMRC. We know it can be hard to navigate whatโs needed for a successful application, especially considering that any mistakes mean you have to reapply which can set back your funding round weeks or even months.
To help you get started, we put together this step-by-step guide on how to apply. We update this post regularly so you know itโs always up-to-date with the latest SEIS/EIS application rules from HMRC.
Make your startup dramatically more investable. Use SeedLegals for your SEIS/EIS Advance Assurance and get approved fast.
Get startedSEIS and EIS are designed to support newer, and riskier, companies by making it more attractive to invest in them.
For this reason, your company has to be under a certain size and stage of development to qualify. You can find full details about the eligibility criteria in our guide to SEIS and EIS. Hereโs a quick summary of the most important current* eligibility criteria:
SeedLegals CEO Anthony Rose explains how to make the upcoming SEIS changes work for you, starting right now.
Get Anthony's insightsAs well as the above, your company might not be eligible for SEIS or EIS if your company directly operates in any of HMRCโs excluded activities. The excluded trades include:
Your level of involvement in the excluded activities affects whether or not you can still qualify for SEIS/EIS. To be disqualified, a substantial percentage of your trade activity (more than 20%) has to be in the restricted area.
You also need to be directly providing the restricted services to be disqualified from SEIS/EIS. So, for example, you could still qualify for SEIS/EIS if youโre building a SaaS technology platform for financial services companies, so long as you donโt directly handle money or bear any financial risk.
Applying for EIS Advance Assurance? If you qualify as a Knowledge Intensive Company (KIC), you can raise more, with greater flexibility, under EIS.
You could be a KIC if you:
If you think that could be you, itโs worth being aware of the benefits which are:
If you donโt need those extra EIS benefits straightaway, you donโt need to worry about proving your KIC status immediately. You can apply for KIC status later when you need it.
Youโll need your companyโs 10-digit Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number to apply for SEIS/EIS Advance Assurance.
You should have automatically been sent your UTR when you registered with Companies House. If you canโt find it, you can request it online. This process can take about a week so itโs good to find this number before you start your Advance Assurance application.
For your SEIS/EIS Advance Assurance application, you need to include a 3-year business plan and financial forecast at the same level of detail that you would ordinarily provide to investors โ like your pitch deck.
The materials youโve created for investors are a great starting point. But thereโs an important difference between your investor-facing business plan and your HMRC-facing business plan. To qualify for SEIS/EIS, you have to show how your startup meets the risk to capital condition.
The clearest way to make sure youโre ticking HMRCโs risk to capital box is to include a brief SWOT analysis and focus on the weaknesses of and threats to your business. Itโs a good idea to explain how these factors contribute to the risk of the investment and/or show the companyโs objective to develop and grow.
Zlatina TrifonovaItโs important to remember that HMRC do not want to see the same things as your investors. Actually, itโs pretty much the exact opposite! HMRC wants to see the risks to your business and its likelihood to fail (as a new company), and not your potential grand success.
When you apply for AA through SeedLegals, weโll check your business plan or pitch deck in detail (like we do all your supporting documents) so you can be confident youโre covering everything you need to.
SEIS/EIS Specialist,
If you havenโt raised funds under one of HMRCโs venture capital schemes before, you need to include the name and details of at least one investor who is โ in theory โ committed to invest 25% or more of your raise.
This is a bit of a chicken and egg situation, because you need to know who your investors are to obtain Advance Assurance. But investors will often only commit to investing after you have obtained your Advance Assuranceโฆ
The good news is that the investor names and amounts arenโt locked in at this stage, and you can change them at any time. But donโt make something up or give someoneโs name without their consent. Find investors who are, on balance, likely to invest โ even if theyโre only a soft commitment at this stage.
If youโve received any de minimis state aid in the past three years, this counts towards the SEIS investment cap of ยฃ250,000.
De minimis aid usually comes from government or university grants.
Whether or not the aid you received counts as de minimis is judged on a case by case basis. The body awarding the aid or grant usually makes it clear at the time of issuance if itโs classed as de minimis aid. So, double-check the comms that came with the money or check with the body that awarded you the grant, and if itโs de minimis, simply add the details to your application.
Our handy SEIS/EIS AA checklist helps you make sure youโre ticking off everything you need for a speedy approval.
Download checklistIn your Advance Assurance application, youโll need to demonstrate that you fulfil the SEIS/EIS criteria. Youโll need to provide:
Youโll also need these supporting documents:
When you apply through SeedLegals, our experts carefully review all your documents to verify you have everything you need to successfully obtain your Advance Assurance.
Zlatina TrifonovaIn your pitch deck, remember to be very clear about what your trade is and how exactly you generate revenue. Often founders get so wrapped up in their brilliant ideas that they assume HMRC have the industry knowledge to understand them โ but this is not always the case. Clarity is key!
SEIS/EIS Specialist,
After youโve gathered all your documents and information, you can apply directly through HMRC using their online portal.
You can also create your application with SeedLegals. Our combined expert support and automated workflow help to streamline the process. Our SEIS experts are with you every step of the way and can guide you through the process from start to finish โ unlimited support is included at no extra cost.
At the end of the process after your documents are finalised, weโll also submit on your behalf to HMRC.
Not sure where to start with your SEIS/EIS Advance Assurance application? Need help with your docs? Our SEIS/EIS team of experts is here to help. Book a call with a friendly member of the team to get your application on track.