Tax relief boost for 'armchair' investors in small firms Darren Westlake, founder of "crowd-funding" website Crowdcube, said his business is in talks with the Treasury to help the Government widen access to a "seed investment scheme" which offers relief on both income and capital gains tax to backers of early stage businesses, with tax breaks of up to 78pc available in the next financial year. The Government's Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS), which launches in April, offers backers of qualifying start-ups 50pc income tax relief on investments of up to £100,000. There will also be a one-off capital gains tax "holiday" if they reinvest gains made during the 2012-13 financial year through SEIS meaning investors could effectively purchase £100,000 of a start-up's shares for just £22,000. Mr Westlake said: "The Treasury is so keen to promote SEIS and they're asking us how we can encourage all the companies that come through Crowdcube to use it. I'm sure they'd be happy to. It's an incredible incentive. He added that the business would ivestigate ways of simplifying the SEIS application process for both investors and fund-raising companies. SEIS is an extension of an existing EIS scheme used by angel investors in small businesses. While £500 is the minimum investment, Mr Westlake said small retail investors would not typically be able to benefit without access to a crowd-funding platform. Previously, it was very hard to invest £500 of equity in a private company. A business angel network would laugh you out of the door. Exeter-based Crowdcube has allowed eight companies raise a combined £2.2m since it started trading a year ago, although 40 companies have failed to reach their target. The peer-to-peer equity finance site takes a 5pc cut of funds raised. Mr Westlake said he expects it to be profitable next year. The company raised £300,000 for itself last year through the site, from 162 retail investors. "It was great to go through the process our customers have," said Mr Westlake.