I love analysing the EIS statistics because you can always uncover some gems!

Here is what I found out when I looked at the latest set for 2011-12

1.   There are around 200 investors investing upto £500,000 a year under EIS

2.   Average investment per company has reached an all time high of £392,000, beating the average at the last peak in 2000/1 of £321,000 and way up on the average investment when the scheme started of £51,000

3.   Before the dotcom crash on average new companies raising funding represented over 70% of companies raising funding, since the dotcom crash the average has been around 50-60%.  So as the scheme has matured it has become clear that investors like backing companies that have already been backed before, if possible.  

4.   We are still not back to peak volumes of companies winning backing. Back in 2001 3,314 companies were invested in.  In 2001-12 it was a tad under 2,600.  Proportionately the situtation is still worse for companies getting backing for the first time.  In 2001 2,379 companies were invested in for the first time.  In 2012 it was only 1,498.

5.   More than 10x more money is invested in companies registered in London than in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland combined

6.   The South East invested £172m, more than North East, North West, Yorkshire & the Humber, East Midlands and West Midlands combined which together invested £110m

7.   Companies in London receive an average of £576,000 per investment, compared with an average of £224,000 north of the Watford Gap

8.   Thrifty investors in Yorkshire invest an average of only £195,000

9.   Investment in construction companies has tripled but only to £15m.

10.   We like our leisure activities -just under 1/3rd of EIS investment is made into recreational activities and distribution, restaurants and catering.

11.   Are we seeing the importance of crowdfunding with a cluster of investors around £-10,000?  Angels consistently seem to prefer to invest in chunks of £50,000.

12.   If you look at when EIS has grown or shrunk year on year, in eleven periods it has grown and in seven it has fallen.  A rough analysis suggests that in 2012-13 it might grow by around 60% to £1.6bn, but if it falls back, the likely shrinkage will be 13% bringing it back to around £880m.  If I was a betting woman, though, the arrival of crowdfunding, the fact that angel investment has gone mainstream and the fact that more and more people are looking to mitigate their too high tax bills, we will actually see next year's statistics show EIS investment closer to £2bn.

If you want to analyse the statistics for yourself, you can find them at: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/statistics/enterprise.htm#4