The founder's guide to an SEIS/EIS-ready pitch deck

If you’re raising investment in the UK, it’s likely that you’ll have heard of (and want to raise through) the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS), or the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS). 

These schemes are governmental tools managed by HMRC to incentivise investment into early-stage businesses. They do this by offering significant tax reliefs to qualifying investors. These tax reliefs can be the difference between a ‘maybe’ and a ‘definitely’ when it comes to investing!

But here’s the catch: HMRC and investors don’t read your pitch deck the same way.

Why you should have a different approach

Both HMRC and investors will require a deeper dive into your pitch decks, projections, and reasons for needing investment. 

However, they have preferences and key things they each look out for respectively, and it’s important to take this into consideration when building your pitch deck.

• Investors want great potential, growth, and traction. They want to see plausible and healthy market returns, stability, and a credible pathway towards a big win.
• HMRC wants proof that your startup is actually early-stage and high-risk, and genuinely in need of funding. They’re checking your compliance, rather than your vision.

If you send the exact same pitch deck to both investors and HMRC when applying for SEIS or EIS, you risk:

• Confusing HMRC with over-optimistic projections
• Accidentally showing your business as too safe to qualify for S/EIS
• Deterring investors by highlighting risks and ‘red flags’

To solve this, we recommend tailoring your pitch decks to each audience. Understand the needs of both, and showcase your business in the right light in order to maximise success, both with HMRC and investors.

What HMRC wants to see

Unlike some investors, HMRC aren’t swayed by slick branding and admirable ambition. Their approval process for SEIS and EIS is rooted in facts, figures, and the criteria they set.

They are looking for: 

• Proof that your business meets the risk-to-capital condition
• Evidence that your activities are eligible under the schemes
• Sensible, realistic forecasts showing you need the money to grow
• Clear, detailed plans for how you’ll spend the funds

If your pitch deck misses these points, or worse, includes “red flags”, you risk delays or outright rejection.

Let’s dive into what you should include, and how to frame it to stay on HMRC’s good side:

1. The problem

This is your chance to show HMRC a clear and factual explanation of the pain point you’re solving, linking it to a long-term marketable opportunity. 

Keep it objective, stating your objective in concise, practical terms that HMRC will understand. They want to clearly see that this is a consistent problem that will have a lasting occurrence, demonstrating a clear need for your solution.

2. The solution

Include a clear and easy-to-follow summary of how you plan on solving the problem for users. Avoid jargon to better illustrate what your business does for HMRC reviewers. 

You should also keep in mind the eligibility requirements for SEIS and EIS. Be explicit about the area your business operates in if regulated. If it falls within a grey area, you should be conscious of how your business is framed within the eligibility criteria.

3. Product and features

This is your chance to go into more detail about your business and how the product functions. What makes it different, how do the mechanics work, and how have you achieved this?

This is also your opportunity to negate any potential doubts if your business falls within a grey area with HMRC S/EIS regulation. Explain how the product operates or serves mostly within qualifying trades to avoid confusion.

4. Market

HMRC wants to see evidence that your business is credible and has the potential to grow long-term. You should do this by: 

• Showing credible market research, rather than speculative figures.
• Demonstrate that your target market is large enough to sustain growth, whilst avoiding overly inflated Total Addressable Market (TAM)* numbers with no backing.
• Connect your market opportunity with your planned use of funds, e.g. expanding into new regions.

*For more common startup terms and their definitions, check out our startup jargon buster here.

5. Competitive landscape

Here, you should showcase your product’s strength and growth opportunity against other key players in the market. Hone in on your competitive advantages, whilst painting a balanced picture of the sector you are growing in. 

This is also one of the key areas to tweak your tone to suit the palette of HMRC. 

Be balanced in showing your market analysis, highlighting weaknesses and threats within the industry you are growing in. Remember to keep the Risk-to-Capital condition in your mind when framing this. 

You should frame the weaknesses as internal limitations when comparing to competitors. This will help to reinforce that the investment is essential to the growth of your business.

6. Revenue and operating model

The way you plan on generating income is integral to SEIS and EIS, and their eligibility requirements as set out by HMRC. Because of this, how you frame your revenue model is significant in influencing your approval. 

HMRC wants to see a clear explanation of how you’ll make money, and a confirmation that it’s through eligible activities. Avoid broader generalisations and be as detailed as possible to instil confidence - terms such as ‘miscellaneous’ and ‘other’ shouldn’t feature in your revenue model.

7. Traction

Here, you should look to show key indicators that growth is on the horizon. Show early signs of progress that prove your business is moving forward, but still at a high-risk stage. 

Note down relevant metrics, such as prototype releases, initial sales, pilot customer bases, and partnerships, but avoid an over-reliance on these.

Try not to make your business seem ‘too safe’.

8. Projections

Demonstrate realistic forecasts that clearly show a funding gap. 

• Your losses in Year 1 and Year 2 should match the amount of money you’re raising through SEIS or EIS. 
• Keep growth moderate and achievable, backed by numbers - not aspirations.
• Show when you expect to break even, and whether subsequent funding rounds may be needed.

9. Team

Highlight the makeup of your current team and their rules and involvement as it stands. Clearly demonstrate that you have the capacity to deliver on the growth you’ve outlined, and how funding will help you to build your team. 

List all key members with their roles, experience, and whether they’re full time or part time. This is also restricted within the scheme’s respective eligibility criteria, and so your business shouldn’t be operating with more full-time employees than is specified by HMRC.

10. Fundraise and use of funds

What HMRC wants to see: 

• A breakdown of how you’ll spend the investment, and proof that it will be used for growth.
• Include specific allocation amounts in a clear and legible way.
• Focus on activities that will scale the business, such as marketing, hiring, or product development.
• Minimise asset purchases unless they’re essential to the growth of your company.

11. Risk-to-capital

This is a required part of your HMRC-ready pitch deck, and is a slide that can make or break your success.

The purpose of this slide is to prove to HMRC that your company is a genuine, high-risk investment. There are two aspects to risk-to-capital: 

• Evidence of clear growth potential
• Genuine risk to investors

These factors should be reinforced in the rest of your pitch deck, but this is your chance to explicitly break them down and reassure HMRC that this condition is met. 

To do this, you could include: 

• A SWOT analysis showing your weaknesses specific to your business, such as a small team, and threats such as strong competitors.
• Ensure these are specific to your business, rather than generic to the industry within which your business operates.

For more information on risk-to-capital, check out our blog.

To summarise

HMRC is focussed on ensuring your company is a genuine, high-risk investment that meets the eligibility requirements they set out. 

Red flags to avoid: 

• Mentioning “SEIS/EIS eligible” in your deck.
• Showing an exit strategy or guaranteed returns.
• Heavy reliance on partnerships/outsourcing without plans to internalise.
• Over-optimistic revenue forecasts.
• Vague spending categories without detail.