In the tax year 2021-22, 4,480 companies raised a total of £2,305m of funds under the enterprise investment scheme (EIS). This is the highest number of companies and total amount raised since the scheme was introduced. Funding has increased by 39% from 2020-21, when 3,765 companies raised £1,662m.

Latest figures from HMRC show that money invested in 2021-22 rose to a level higher than before the downturn during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020-21. Around £584m of investment was raised by 1,755 new EIS companies in 2021-22. Companies from the information and communication sector accounted for £785 million of investment – 34% of all investment. Companies registered in London and the South East accounted for the largest proportion of investment (65%) raising £1,489m.

Funding in the seed enterprise investment scheme (SEIS) is at the highest level since the scheme was introduced. In 2021-22, 2,270 companies raised a total of £205m of funds, an increase of 16% from 2020-21 when 2,105 companies raised £176 million. About 1,815 of the companies were raising funds under the SEIS scheme for the first time, representing £179m of investment.