SEIS & EIS in 2026: the money's still there — but the gate is getting tighter
HMRC's latest figures show SEIS investment up 14% and EIS holding firm. Look beneath the headline, though, and advance assurance approval rates are sliding — and that's the number every founder planning a raise should be watching.
IP Tax Solutions · Innovation Tax Specialists for SEIS/EIS, R&D & Patent Box21 May 2026 · 7 min read
Every spring, HMRC quietly publishes the scoreboard for the UK's two flagship startup investment reliefs - the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and its earlier-stage sibling, the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS). It provides for a useful insight for founders and angel investors on how much risk capital is flowing, where it is going, and - increasingly - how hard HMRC is making companies work to qualify for it.
The 2026 release covers money actually raised in the 2024–25 tax year, plus the very first look at advance assurance activity in 2025–26. The top line is reassuring: SEIS is growing, EIS is stable. But the most important story for anyone about to raise is buried in Section 5 - and it is a useful warning.
Source: HMRC, Enterprise Investment Scheme and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme statistics, May 2026.
01. The advance assurance squeeze
Start with the number almost no one is talking about. Before you raise, you can ask HMRC to confirm in principle that your share issue will qualify for the reliefs - called an advance assurance. It is the single most powerful piece of paper in an early-stage raise: most angels and syndicates simply won't wire funds without it.
In 2025–26, that approval is getting noticeably harder to win. SEIS advance assurance approvals have fallen from 85% to 76% of applications, and EIS from 76% to 72%. At the same time, the volume of applications is climbing - SEIS requests jumped 24% in a single year.
A rejected or stalled advance assurance can cost you a funding round. Two things follow from these numbers. First, build in more time — HMRC is processing a record volume, so submit earlier than you think you need to. Second, the margin for a thin or sloppy application has gone. The companies being knocked back are typically those that stumble on the risk-to-capital condition, vague trade descriptions, or share structures that don't hold up. Get those right before you submit, not after a rejection.
Some context softens the headline: a chunk of 2025–26 applications were still being processed when HMRC counted, so the final approval rate will tick up. But the direction of travel is clear, and it rhymes with what we've seen on the ground since HMRC's wider crackdown on R&D tax relief - the bar for qualifying for generous reliefs is rising across the board.
02. SEIS is booming. EIS is plateauing.
Zoom out to the money actually raised, and the two schemes are pulling in different directions. EIS investment held flat at £1,575 million - a level that now sits below pre-pandemic norms, weighed down by higher interest rates and a cooler venture market. SEIS, by contrast, grew 14% to £276 million, its second strong year since the April 2023 expansion lifted the company raise cap from £150,000 to £250,000.
And founders are using those bigger limits. The share of SEIS companies raising more than £150,000 jumped from 19% to 32% in a year — and those larger rounds now account for 63% of all SEIS money. The 2023 reform wasn't a gimmick; it has genuinely reshaped what a seed round under the scheme looks like.
The reliefs haven't shrunk. What's changed is that capital is moving down the risk curve - and HMRC is scrutinising the earliest-stage claims hardest.
03. Who actually gets funded
Here is a contrast that should reframe how you think about which scheme you're raising under. Under SEIS, 83% of all money went to companies raising under the scheme for the first time. Under EIS, it's the mirror image - 79% of money flowed to companies that had raised under the scheme before.
The practical reading: SEIS is the front door to the venture-relief world, and EIS is where companies return as they scale. Only 21% of EIS money — about £333 million — went to genuinely new EIS companies, a hangover from the 2018 risk-to-capital condition that deliberately closed the door on low-risk, capital-preservation arrangements. If you're a first-time founder, SEIS is almost certainly your starting point; if you've raised before, the EIS data says the smart money keeps backing proven teams.
04. The concentration problem — and the opening in it
Two concentrations dominate the data, and both cut the same way. By sector, Information & Communication alone took 35% of EIS and a striking 42% of SEIS investment. By geography, London and the South East absorbed 60% of EIS and 66% of SEIS money.
For a founder outside London or outside software, the honest read is two-sided. The bar is real: investors and the schemes' infrastructure are clustered where the data says they are. But the EIS regional share has fallen three years running - 65% to 63% to 60% - and that drift is where ambitious regional companies, including here in Wales, are quietly winning. A well-structured, well-evidenced claim travels regardless of postcode. The constraint is rarely the geography; it's the quality of the application.
05. What this all means for your raise
The reliefs remain generous and well-funded, but qualifying for them cleanly has never mattered more. The advance assurance process is the choke point - so treat it like one.
The advance assurance journey - where rounds are won or lost
- Start the assurance early. With applications at record highs and HMRC under load, build weeks - not days - into your raise timeline.
- Nail the risk-to-capital condition. This is where most rejections happen. Your narrative must show genuine risk and a real intention to grow and develop the trade.
- Match the scheme to your stage. First raise? SEIS, and use the full £250,000 cap. Scaling with a track record? EIS is built for your follow-on.
- Don't let postcode or sector decide it. Concentration reflects where applications cluster, not a hard limit. A rigorous claim qualifies wherever you're based.
- Get the structure reviewed before you submit. A second rejection is far more expensive than getting the first application right.
Raising under SEIS or EIS this year?
IP Tax Solutions is a boutique tax advisory firm. We structure SEIS/EIS rounds, secure advance assurance, and defend claims under HMRC scrutiny - so your raise doesn't stall at the gate. If the approval rates above made you pause, these are exactly the conversations we have every week.
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