Latest SEIS/EIS Statistics Revealed: Another bumper year for EIS

HMRC have, this week, released their statistics for companies raising funds covering the tax year 2017-2018.

2017-2018 has seen another bumper year for EIS with fundraising reaching record highs and for the first time, potentially topping the £2Bn mark in a single tax year. EIS continues to be a success story in helping entrepreneurs, start up and scale up businesses achieve their funding needs.

Interestingly, the figures also show that an increasing number of companies are using EIS not just for initial funding but also for follow on, second or third round funding proving that EIS is a popular and well established funding option and that the experience of raising money via EIS is usually a positive one.

The highlights from the HMRC report are below:

• £1.929 Billion raised under EIS for 3,920 companies – (HMRC estimate this will rise to £2.041 Billion and 4,130 companies as more returns are received) one of the largest raises on record
• £189 Million raised under SEIS for 2,320 companies
• London and the South East accounted for 67% of all EIS investment
• EIS has now raised over £20 Billion since 1994 funding 29,770 companies
• Information and Communication sector received 33% of all EIS investment
• HMRC approved 62% of all Advance Assurance applications compared to 75% the previous year
• More and more companies are raising money through EIS for the second or third time
• 43% of companies raise funding of less than £150,000
• 33,605 investors claimed EIS tax relief in 2017-2018 (estimated to rise to 37,350)

Read the full report: HMRC SEIS & EIS Statistics Report 2019

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