In a conversation with Elon Musk at the AI Safety Summit, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak praised the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) as a tool for deploying capital as growth equity. 

Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister, commented: 

"My job is to get all the nuts and bolts right. Make sure that all of you who are starting companies can raise the capital that you need. Everything from your seed funding with our incredible EIS tax reliefs all the way through to your late-stage rounds, and we need reform of our pension funds, and the Chancellor's got a bunch of incredible reforms to unlock capital from all the people who have it and deploy it into growth equity. That is a work in progress, we're not there yet, but I think we're making good progress." 

The Enterprise Investment Scheme is a government initiative designed to attract investment into smaller UK companies. EIS investments provide enterprise capital to smaller unlisted companies that might otherwise struggle to attract funding. The Government recognises the important role smaller businesses play in a successful economy and offers tax benefits to EIS investors in order to ensure funding is available. 

Since their introduction in 1994, EIS investments have grown in popularity with funds raised ensuring an overall upward trend of investment volumes. According to figures provided by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the 21/22 tax year shows that 4,480 companies raised a total of £2.3 billion via EIS.