How Much Can You Raise Under SEIS?
The 250,000 pound question answered properly: the cap, what eats into it, whether to raise it all at once, and how SEIS fits your bigger funding plan.
In this article
The headline SEIS funding answer is £250,000, and like most headlines it hides the useful detail. The cap is lifetime, not annual; grants you have already banked can shrink it; the asset test can bite mid-raise; and the real question is rarely the maximum but the shape: how much, in how many closes, before EIS takes over. Here is the founder maths.
The cap, precisely
A company can raise up to £250,000 under SEIS across its entire life, whether in one round or several. It is not per year and it does not reset. Two further limits frame any raise: gross assets must be under £350,000 immediately before each issue, and the trade must still be under three years old at each issue, both covered in rules and limits. A raise that is fine in January can fail the asset test by June if the first close was banked carelessly.
What quietly eats the cap
SEIS sits within state aid rules, and certain de minimis aid you have already received counts against the £250,000. Innovation grants are the usual suspect. Before promising investors the full amount, tally every grant with your accountant and get the honest headroom number. Discovering mid-round that your cap is £180,000 is a conversation nobody enjoys, and it features in the mistakes catalogue for a reason.
All at once, or in stages?
Both work; they fail differently.
- One close is cleaner: one issue date, one asset test, one set of paperwork, and the four-month clock towards certificates starts once. The cost is pressure: you need the full amount committed together.
- Staged closes match how angel money actually arrives, but each issue is its own compliance event: asset test before each one, careful dating, and certificates per tranche. Bank £150,000 in close one and your own cash can push assets past £350,000 before close two, the classic self-inflicted wound.
The founder rule: let the money shape the round, but let an adviser sequence the issues.
How much should you actually raise?
The cap is not a target. Work backwards from milestones: what must be true, product shipped, revenue signal, team hired, for the next round to happen at a better price? Cost that, add honest contingency, and raise that number. Raising less than the plan needs guarantees a desperate bridge later; raising the full £250,000 to flatter the announcement buys dilution you did not need. Investors reading our due diligence guide will ask for exactly this arithmetic, so having it is also marketing.
When SEIS is not enough: the EIS handover
Most ambitious companies outgrow £250,000, by design. The scheme family anticipates it: EIS continues from where SEIS stops, at 30% relief with far higher limits, and the law requires SEIS shares to be issued before EIS shares. Practical sequencing: complete the SEIS raise, paper it cleanly, then open EIS, never both ambiguously on the same day. The comparison and the handover logic live in SEIS vs EIS vs VCT.
The SEIS funding numbers on one card
| Question | Number |
|---|---|
| Maximum under SEIS, lifetime | £250,000 minus counted state aid |
| Asset ceiling before each issue | £350,000 |
| Trade age at each issue | Under 3 years |
| Per investor, per year | £200,000 across all their SEIS |
| Spend before SEIS1 | 70% of the raise |
Worked example: shaping a £180,000 raise
Suppose milestones cost £160,000 and you add honest contingency to reach £180,000. Check the constraints in order. Capacity: no grants, so the full £250,000 is available, headroom fine. Assets: you hold £240,000 today, so a single £180,000 close banked at once would pass the test at issue (£240,000 before) with room to spare, but two closes of £90,000 would also pass individually, £240,000 then £330,000, provided the second issue completes before other cash arrivals push you past £350,000.
Investors: your lead wants £120,000, comfortably inside their personal £200,000 annual limit. Verdict: either shape works; one close is cleaner, and the announcement can still describe a round. The point is not this example’s numbers but the order of operations: milestones first, then capacity, then the asset timeline, then investor limits.
The other side’s limit
Remember your investors carry their own ceiling: £200,000 of SEIS subscriptions per person per tax year, across every company they back. A single backer writing your whole £250,000 is therefore impossible within one year, and a £150,000 cheque from someone who has already invested elsewhere this year may not be what it appears. It costs nothing to ask the question early, and it signals to sophisticated angels, the readers of our due diligence guide, that you run a tidy round.
Before any conversation with investors, pin down four numbers for your SEIS funding plan: the grants already received (they eat the cap), gross assets today and at each planned tranche, the runway the round must buy, and the EIS amount that follows if you outgrow the scheme. Founders who bring those four numbers to the first meeting negotiate SEIS funding from the front foot.
Common questions
How much can a company raise through SEIS?
Up to £250,000 across its lifetime, reduced by certain de minimis state aid already received, with gross assets under £350,000 before each issue.
Can I raise SEIS money in more than one round?
Yes. The cap is cumulative, and each issue must separately pass the asset, age and headcount tests on its date.
Do grants reduce how much SEIS I can raise?
Certain de minimis state aid counts against the £250,000, so tally grants before committing a number to investors.
What happens when I need more than £250,000?
EIS continues where SEIS stops, at 30% relief with higher limits; SEIS shares must be issued first.
Does grant money reduce SEIS funding capacity?
It can. De minimis state aid you have already banked counts against the ceiling, so map every grant before you plan SEIS funding. The SEIS funding limit is lifetime, not annual, which is why a forgotten £40,000 grant can quietly shrink the round you thought you had.
