Guinness Ventures announces the launch of the Guinness Founders SEIS, a new service designed to invest in early-stage UK companies under the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme.
The Guinness Founders SEIS is targeting a raise of £3 million, with the intention of building a diversified portfolio of 10 to 20 investee companies. Each company will receive between £100,000 and £250,000 of funding to support it through the earliest stages of commercialisation.
Investments will focus on the Business Services, Consumer, and Healthcare sectors, targeting ambitious founding teams that are typically pre-revenue or early-revenue and where capital and strategic support can drive meaningful value creation.
SEIS offers some of the most generous tax incentives available to UK investors, including 50% income tax relief, capital gains tax reinvestment relief, and tax-free growth on qualifying shares held for at least three years. Investors can subscribe from a minimum of £20,000.
The service will draw on the proprietary deal flow and entrepreneur networks that Guinness has built over more than a decade of venture investing. Since 2010, Guinness Ventures has invested over £340 million in EIS qualifying companies and has returned over £135 million to investors to date. In 2024, Guinness EIS was named Best EIS Manager in the Growth Investor Awards.
The Guinness Founders SEIS is targeting full deployment in the 2026/27 tax year. Subscriptions are open now, with a closing date of 5 April 2026.
Shane Gallwey, CEO, Guinness Ventures said:
“We’ve spent over a decade building the relationships, expertise, and infrastructure needed to identify and support Britain’s most promising growth companies. The Guinness Founders SEIS is a natural extension of that work – giving investors access to the very earliest stage of the journey, where the right combination of capital and hands-on support can make the biggest difference.”
