The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, should use her upcoming Spring Assertion to unveil focused measures that can maintain the UK’s late-stage entrepreneurial companies from looking for extra fruitful funding avenues overseas.
Simon Gleeson, a Companion at main audit, tax and advisory agency Blick Rothenberg, argues that failing to help home-grown unicorns and pre-IPO corporations may harm the Chancellor’s development agenda. “To keep her commitment to growth, Rachel Reeves needs to do more to support the UK’s entrepreneurial businesses in the upcoming Spring Statement,” he says.
Gleeson factors out that in 2024, 88 corporations both moved their main itemizing or delisted from London, contrasted with simply 18 new arrivals. The priority is that an rising wave of tech, fintech and challenger banks might look to checklist within the US or Center East in 2026/2027, the place “returns seem far greater and access to institutional investment a lot more forthcoming.”
Authorities figures counsel round £60bn in pension surpluses might be unlocked from outlined profit schemes. Gleeson says the well timed launch of those funds may considerably support late-stage ventures: “The money would give businesses the investment they need to continue to grow and be an incentive for them to stay in the UK.” However timing is essential; readability on when such a proposal could be accepted is urgently wanted, notably for companies mapping out 2026/2027 itemizing plans.
Whereas the Enterprise Funding Scheme (EIS) and Seed Enterprise Funding Scheme (SEIS) successfully bolster early-stage enterprises, they’re much less appropriate for scale-ups looking for giant funding rounds. “The UK’s ‘unicorn’ companies and other pre-IPO ventures require bigger injections of capital than EIS and SEIS can provide,” says Gleeson, including that the proposed £60bn may show transformative for these companies.
