Evolution of the 20-year-old EIS market

ENTERPRISE INVESTMENT SCHEMES

As the Enterprise Investment Scheme celebrates its 20th birthday, Ole Bettum, managing partner at Bestport Ventures, says it is time to stop complaining about funding and celebrate an EIS success story.

It has become de rigueur to complain about the lack of funding for entrepreneurs and smaller businesses in the UK. People like to point the finger at successive governments for failing to provide the UK with a US-style environment which has helped create the likes of Microsoft, Apple and Google. But over the past 20 years, smaller companies in the UK have raised some £10bn under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) framework. This offers tax incentives to private investors to encourage them into the unquoted, smaller company asset class which is at the higher end of the equity inves...