SEIS/EIS tax relief is one of the strongest incentives for early-stage investors. Securing these benefits can significantly increase investor confidence and help you close your round faster.

FounderCatalyst ensures the process is handled quickly, accurately and without unnecessary complexity.

Why investors love SEIS

50%

Income tax relief

CGT on exit

~45%

Loss relief if bust

Simulate an investment £

£10k £200k

Tax relief back immediately £

Effective cost to investor £

If 5× exit → CGT saved £

If total loss → true exposure £ (%)

Why investors love EIS

30%

Income tax relief

CGT on exit

~45%

Loss relief if bust

Simulate an investment £

£10k £1M

Tax relief back immediately £

Effective cost to investor £

If 5× exit → CGT saved £

If total loss → true exposure £ (%)

SEIS + EIS

Inheritance Tax (IHT) relief

Shares in SEIS/EIS-qualifying companies are typically exempt from IHT via Business Property Relief once held for at least two years. With IHT at 40%, this can meaningfully reduce estate tax exposure on death.

SEIS only

CGT reinvestment relief

SEIS lets investors exempt 50% of a capital gain from CGT when that gain is reinvested into qualifying SEIS shares - a powerful way to recycle gains from other assets.

EIS only

CGT deferral relief

EIS allows investors to defer CGT on gains from other assets when those gains are reinvested into EIS shares - pushing the tax bill down the road.

What's included in our SEIS/EIS service

FounderCatalyst combines automation with expert support to make securing SEIS/EIS simple and fast.

Templates to get you started

Access a professionally designed pitch deck template and financial forecast model to help you prepare materials investors and HMRC expect to see.

Eligibility analysis

We assess your company against HMRC's SEIS/EIS requirements and review your pitch deck, financial model and supporting materials to ensure they include everything HMRC expects.

Advance assurance submission build

We build your SEIS/EIS advance assurance application in the HMRC portal, preparing all the required information and documentation so you can submit with confidence. We also support complex builds including EIS Condition A, B and C, as well as EIS Knowledge Intensive Company (KIC) applications.

HMRC query guidance & responses

While we aim to minimise queries through thorough preparation, HMRC sometimes raise additional questions. When they do, we handle the responses on your behalf - so you don't have to navigate HMRC correspondence yourself.

Post-raise compliance and certificates

After your funding round closes, we support you with SEIS/EIS compliance statements and investor certificates, enabling your investors to claim their tax relief.

1:1

Unlimited human support

While much of the process is automated through the platform, you'll have unlimited access to our team for guidance and support whenever you need it.

Real results from real founders

Don't just take our word for it - here's what founders have achieved with FounderCatalyst.

“Phenomenal! Sam and his team at FounderCatalyst helped demystify our route ahead and provided invaluable insight and support in obtaining our SEIS Advanced Assurance. I don't believe we would have done it without him. What's more, the approval only took 5.5 business hours from submission. Far faster than HMRC was advising themselves. I firmly believe this was down to the solid preparation and support provided by FounderCatalyst.”

James Tomlin

CEO, Visa Doc

“We were referred to FounderCatalyst and told that they were good, but our advance assurance submission received a positive response from HMRC in 25 hours – that is better than good!”

Geoff Revill

Co-founder & CEO, Safe Space One

“Sam and team provide a faultless service. I've been incredibly impressed with the rapid response time of any questions I send, and the level of detail and reassurance provided to make sure we fully understand the process. We flew through the HMRC (S)EIS Advance Assurance process: submitting it just before 5pm on a Monday, and having received confirmation of it by 1:30pm the next day! Can't get much better than that. Really very happy to have chosen FounderCatalyst.”

Jeffrey Nicholas Clark

Director, IngeniumAI

“Strongly recommend this to all SEIS/EIS founders who need to do their legals and raise completed in a simple, straightforward, compliant low cost way. Sam and team go above and beyond.”

Eric Steven Ogley

Director, Hyra Limited

“We were unsure how to approach SEIS/EIS advance assurance, but FounderCatalyst made the process a breeze. Even better, we had a positive advance assurance confirmed by HMRC in less than five and a half hours! Crazy good. Sam and his team are incredibly knowledgable, clear, helpful and thorough. We could not recommend them more!”

Andrew White

Founder, Otterkin Ltd

“From clicking submit on our SEIS & EIS advance assurance 3rd June 2024 to a thumbs up from HMRC in less than 24 hours is wild. Thanks FounderCatalyst!”

Aalok Rai

Founder, Uplyft Wearables

“FounderCatalyst took the extremely complicated SEIS Compliance and Certificate process and made it very straightforward for founders. Extra kudos that it’s bundled for free with a funding round!”

James Tanner

Co-Founder, Last Fan Standing

“I’d heard that FounderCatalyst’s SEIS advance assurance was lightning quick from another founder, but they’ve excelled themselves with Archive This Ltd. Full advance assurance received from HMRC in less than 3 working hours.”

Steven Down

Director, Archive This Ltd (t/a Only Helix)

“We started our new company under our old company. Rookie mistake. This meant we fell outside of the timeline for EIS by more than a few years. FounderCatalyst worked with us on an appeal. Our new company was different to our old one. We had invested into it's development and were turning revenue. We got the thumbs up from HMRC. Was a happy day.”