Alma Growth Hacks | S/EIS Playbook with Christiana Stewart-Lockhart
Raising early-stage capital feels challenging, but did you know the UK has something NO OTHER country does: the Seed & Enterprise Investment Schemes (S/EIS).
Designed to boost the UK economy by supporting early-stage companies that might struggle to get funding otherwise.
Applying for S/EIS might seem technical, high-stakes and easy to get wrong. Yet when understood properly, these schemes can be powerful tools for founders structuring their rounds and investors backing them.
In this session of Alma Growth Hacks, we’re joined by Christiana Stewart-Lockhart, Director General of the Enterprise Investment Scheme Association (EISA), to unpack how S/EIS work in practice and how both sides of the table can use the schemes more strategically.
Drawing on her experience working closely with founders, investors and policymakers, Christiana will cut through the complexity and focus on what actually matters when raising and investing under S/EIS.
This session will cover:
• How S/EIS work in practice
• What’s changed with the recent budget
• What founders and investors should pay attention to
• Key timing considerations: advance assurance, valuations and documentation
• How to use S/EIS as a fundraising and investment advantage, not a box-ticking exercise
The session will close with a live Q&A, so bring your real, practical questions 🔥
Whether you’re a founder preparing for your first raise or next round, or an investor looking to better understand how S/EIS shape early-stage deals, this session will offer clarity and practical guidance you can apply immediately.
Christiana is Director General of the EIS Association, the trade body for the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and the Seed EIS ecosystem. The EIS Association has more than 400 members including entrepreneurs, advisers and investors using the schemes. Christiana previously spent more than a decade working in Westminster and holds a BA in Politics from the University of York. She was included in the 2025 Women in Trade Associations powerlist, is a member of TISA’s Financial Education Council, and sits on the Advisory Board for the APPG for Entrepreneurship.
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About the Alma Community
Alma Angels is Europe’s largest diverse and active investment community on a mission: Generate $1 trillion in women-led wealth by 2050. Since 2020, our non-profit organisation has brought together and trained over 600 angel investors who have invested into 250+ women (co)founders building tech or IP-rich ventures with global ambitions. These companies have gone on to raise more than $300m to date and are valued at $1.6 billion. In 2025, Alma received the “Rising Star Angel Group of the Year” award by the UK Business Angels Association.
Alma Angels is committed to training 10,000 angels and backing 10,000 women founders by 2035.