Figures out from HMRC show that the amount of investment made through the government’s flagship Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) has fallen by 15% from £2.3 billion to £2 billion in the year ended March 31, 2023.
Ian Zant-Boer, CEO of private equity firm, Growthdeck, which raises money for businesses through EIS, says that the next government should consider expanding EIS to help the UK’s tech sector compete with those of other economies.
He said: “A bigger, better EIS could help the UK’s tech sector compete with the US. It’s no secret that raising equity in the US is much more attractive for a lot of tech companies. EIS should play a major part in redressing that balance.
“Whoever wins the next election should be looking at what it can do to help EIS supercharge growth in the small business sector. This scheme has proven itself over the last 30 years and there is so much more it could do if more businesses had access to that vital equity funding.”