The government has made an initial £250m available for investment through the scheme and will consider increasing this if needed. Private investors, potentially including venture capital funds, angel investors and those backed by regional funds, will at least match the government investment in these companies.

Reece Tomlinson, CEO of RWT Growth, corporate advisors for the global SME economy, commented on the launch: "This fund is a great step in the right direction for the government to continue to support the UK's fantastic scale-up community of businesses. For bio- and med-tech businesses, there are some steps they should look at now that this funding is available.

"Creating strategic value is paramount during this time. Whether the SME can directly benefit from COVID-19 should not deter it from its pursuit of completing strategic priorities so that when the market begins to re-open, the SME can move quickly towards new revenues and growth. Regardless of the company, this time should be used to create value.

For many biotech and med-tech SMEs, it is likely that they have IP and assets that can be leveraged to directly benefit from the mass government spending on COVID-19 in order to combat the virus. Several of our clients have been able to utilise existing assets to generate revenues in a period where their traditional revenues have declined or dropped off entirely. This fund is an opportunity for these businesses to scale and grow during this crisis and become part of the backbone of the economy for years to come."

Luke Davis, CEO of IW Capital, a specialist in EIS investment, discusses the scheme: “Extending the Future Fund to include EIS investments will open up the scheme to a whole new sector of investors and private capital; from angel investors to VCTs. This is not an insignificant amount of money that could be a big boost to companies trying to survive or grow.

"The EIS is one of the UK Government’s most successful initiatives in terms of driving investment into high growth early-stage companies. It has helped produce some incredible business successes that otherwise may not have got off the ground due to the reluctance of banks to lend to these firms. While confidence in investing has undoubtedly reduced, there are still some fantastic opportunities to invest and support the growth of British firms that are expanding and hiring - especially in the MedTech and Pharma arenas.

"When the EIS income tax relief was extended from 20% to 30% in 2011, the amount invested in small companies through the scheme saw a tremendous jump. If the Government were to extend the scope or tax efficiencies of the scheme again, it could really help catalyse private investment - a crucial source of growth finance. While any increase in tax reliefs would impact the revenue of the treasury, this would very likely be more than balanced by increased taxes on business revenues and those on new employees - as we have seen previously with the scheme.”