Insights topic
Investing in Ventures
Written for investors: what a venture-built company looks like from the outside, how SEIS and EIS work, how risk is assessed stage by stage, and where GCV Invest fits alongside GCV Labs.
How investors evaluate, access and build a position in early-stage, venture-built companies - including the UK's SEIS and EIS schemes.
What this topic covers
Investing
Why invest in venture-built companies?
What a venture-built company looks like from an investor's side of the table, and which early-stage risks the model removes - and which it does not.
Read the articleInvesting
Assessing risk in early-stage companies: an investor's checklist
The six-lens diligence framework we use when assessing an early-stage company, and the questions under each that reliably surface the real risk.
Read the articleInvesting
Building an early-stage investment portfolio
Position sizing, spread, pacing, follow-on capital and the role of SEIS and EIS in constructing an early-stage portfolio you can actually hold.
Read the articleInvesting
How GCV Labs and GCV Invest work together
Build and fund are two distinct capabilities in the Growth Capital Ventures ecosystem. Here is where the boundary sits and why it exists.
Read the articleInvesting
SEIS and EIS explained for early-stage investors
A plain-English guide to SEIS and EIS: the reliefs, the limits, the conditions, the risk-to-capital test, and the questions to ask before you rely on either.
Read the articleSEIS
What is SEIS? A plain-English guide for investors
What SEIS is, which reliefs it carries, who it is designed for, and the conditions attached to every one of them.
Read the articleSEIS
SEIS vs EIS: which scheme applies, and when
A side-by-side comparison of the two venture capital schemes, and how a single funding round can use both in sequence.
Read the articleSEIS
Who can invest under SEIS: eligibility and the connection rules
The investor-side conditions: UK tax liability, the 30% interest test, the employee rule, and what counts as being connected to the company.
Read the articleSEIS
SEIS income tax relief: how the 50% works in practice
How the 50% relief is calculated, what caps it, and what happens when your tax liability is smaller than your entitlement.
Read the articleSEIS
SEIS loss relief: what happens when a company fails
How the net loss is calculated, the choice between setting it against income or gains, and what it means for the real downside on an SEIS position.
Read the articleSEIS
SEIS capital gains: exemption and reinvestment relief
Disposal relief and reinvestment relief explained, including the conditions on each and how they interact with income tax relief.
Read the articleSEIS
SEIS carry back: claiming against last year's tax
What carry back does, when it is worth using, the limits that still apply, and how to elect for it.
Read the articleSEIS
SEIS limits: company caps, investor limits and the allowance
Every SEIS threshold in one table, what each one is measured against, and what happens when a company outgrows them.
Read the articleSEIS
The SEIS three-year holding period and how relief is withdrawn
The qualifying period, the events that trigger withdrawal or reduction of relief, and who has to tell HMRC.
Read the articleSEIS
Advance assurance and the SEIS3 certificate
What advance assurance is worth, how the compliance process works, and when you can expect the SEIS3 that lets you claim.
Read the articleSEIS
How to claim SEIS relief on your tax return, step by step
What you need before you start, where each figure goes, the deadlines that apply, and what to keep on file.
Read the articleSEIS
Building an SEIS portfolio: spread, pacing and position size
A practical framework for constructing an SEIS portfolio: how many holdings, how large, over how long, and what to keep in reserve.
Read the articleInvesting
What is EIS? A plain-English guide for investors
What EIS is, the four reliefs it carries, which companies qualify, and where it sits relative to SEIS.
Read the articleInvesting
Who can invest under EIS: eligibility and the connection rules
The eligibility tests: UK tax liability, the 30% holding limit, employment and directorship, and the two-years-before, three-years-after connection window.
Read the articleInvesting
EIS qualifying companies: which businesses are eligible
Permanent establishment, independence, employee and asset limits, the seven-year age rule, the qualifying business activity test and the list of excluded trades.
Read the articleInvesting
EIS income tax relief: how the 30% works in practice
The calculation, the caps, carry back, and the conditions that have to hold for three years.
Read the articleInvesting
EIS capital gains: exemption and deferral relief
How disposal exemption and deferral relief differ, the conditions for each, the reinvestment window, and when the deferred gain comes back into charge.
Read the articleInvesting
EIS loss relief: what happens when the company fails
The net amount at risk, the choice between income and gains, worked numbers at each tax rate, and the time limits for claiming.
Read the articleInvesting
EIS carry back: claiming relief against last year's tax
What carry back does, the limits that still apply, the situations where it is worth using, and how the election is made.
Read the articleInvesting
EIS limits and rules: what companies and investors must meet
Company caps, gross asset tests, age limits, connection rules and the three-year holding period, with the figures that changed in April 2026.
Read the articleInvesting
The EIS three-year holding period and how relief is withdrawn
When the clock starts, what counts as a disposal, how withdrawal is calculated, and the company-side events that break the period.
Read the articleInvesting
EIS advance assurance and the EIS3 certificate
What advance assurance is worth, the EIS1 to EIS2 to EIS3 sequence, the four-month trading rule, and what to check on the certificate.
Read the articleInvesting
How to claim EIS relief, step by step
The EIS3 certificate, the self assessment boxes, claiming through PAYE, carry back and the five-year time limit.
Read the articleInvesting
The risks of EIS and SEIS investing
Company failure, illiquidity, dilution, withdrawal of relief, valuation uncertainty, concentration and rule change - with what each one means in practice.
Read the articleComing next on this topic
- Reading a cap table as an early-stage investor
- Follow-on investing: when to double down
- What happens to your shares at an exit
- Co-investing alongside a venture builder
- Questions to ask before your first angel investment