For years, we’ve talked about the UK as a global innovation hub. But talk alone doesn’t build companies. What builds companies is capital, conviction, and the willingness to bet on ideas before everyone else sees their value. This Budget, for all the political noise surrounding it, makes one thing clear: the Chancellor wants to incentivise that kind of boldness again.
The enhancements to the Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) scheme and the increases to EIS limits are more than tweaks to the tax code. They’re signals. Signals that the Government has finally recognised a truth those of us working with fast-growth companies have known for years: liquidity and access to risk capital are the oxygen of a modern entrepreneurial economy. Without them, even the most promising founders suffocate long before their ideas reach scale.
A timely course correction
Some commentary has focused on the changes to VCT tax relief and what that might mean for investor appetite. I understand the concern; capital is skittish, particularly in a rate environment that still feels unpredictable and where uncertainty has become the default setting. But to focus solely on the headline misses the broader picture.
The expansion of EIS and the reforms to EMI give early backers more flexibility, more headroom and more confidence to support companies as they grow, particularly as firms stay private for longer, and need deeper pools of capital before they ever consider an exit.
What the Chancellor delivered, imperfect as any Budget will be, has pushed capital towards technology, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, clean energy, and the frontier sectors where small, daring teams often drive the breakthroughs.
A better flow
For venture capital and growth equity firms, liquidity constraints have been the quiet killer of the past two years. Portfolio companies stayed private longer, but fund recycling slowed. Exit markets stalled, but capital needs didn’t. The Budget’s direction of travel, nudging more private capital into growth companies and lowering administrative friction, matters because it fuels the whole engine of growth, not just the ignition.
When you back founders at their most ambitious stages, the incentive structure must reward long-term conviction, not short-term caution. The strengthened incentives across EMI, EIS and VCTs do exactly that. They give investors permission to take risk again.
Find your niche
But policy alone won’t do the work. I speak to founders who still ask, “Should we pause hiring?” or “Should we defer our raise until the climate improves?” My advice is consistent: uncertainty is not a signal to shrink your ambition. It is a test of it.
When we built GLAS, the market was dominated by large incumbents who had little incentive to innovate or solve problems creatively. Our way in was simple: say yes, take on the complex work no one else wanted, and build credibility brick by brick. That principle still applies today.
Founders should use this moment to sharpen their strategy. Own your niche. Build the product only you can build. Raise capital with purpose. And surround yourself with investors who understand that scaling a business is a marathon, and not a sprint.
Time for action
In challenging markets, the instinct for both investors and founders is the same: wait. Wait for rates to settle. Wait for valuations to stabilise. Wait for geopolitics to calm. I saw this in 2008 when I was running a headhunting business, and again in 2011 when I founded GLAS at a time when most people thought launching anything in credit markets was madness.
But markets do not reward hesitation. They reward action. They reward those who can distinguish between noise and structural change. And they especially reward founders willing to move when others freeze.
The UK now has a window, not permanent, and certainly not guaranteed, where supportive policy and investor appetite can align. The founders who use this moment to raise, to hire, to build, will define the next decade of British growth. The ones who wait for “normality” to return will lose ground to those who understand that normality isn’t coming back, because it never existed in the first place.
A new direction
This Budget is far from flawless, but it puts growth companies at the centre of the UK’s economic strategy, whilst acknowledging that the country’s future depends on its ability to turn ideas into industries.
The UK’s next generation of high-growth companies, the ones that will define our economic future, will be built by those who understand that volatility is not a reason to retreat, but to move.
Now it’s over to the founders, VCs and entrepreneurs who will decide whether this becomes a turning point or a missed opportunity.
The Government has strengthened the scaffolding. But scaffolding doesn’t build anything on its own.
By Mia Drennan, CEO of GLAS
