UK startups have been given a boost after Britain's largest venture investor was today (Monday) granted an extra £6.6bn to invest in UK entrepreneurs.
The capital boost given by the Department for Business and Trade to the British Business Bank (BBB), the UK state-backed development agency, forms part of UK prime minister Keir Starmer's 10-year industrial strategy. The £6.6bn consists of two investments.
The first is a £4bn new initiative called the British Business Bank Industrial Strategy Growth Capital.
This will be invested across eight areas: advanced manufacturing, clean energy industries, creative industries, defence, digital and technologies, financial services, life sciences, and professional and business services.
On top of that, the BBB is investing an extra £2.6bn of capital geared towards backing entrepreneurs, aimed at supporting high-growth regional clusters and addressing regional funding gaps.
The recent government Spending Review has led to the BBB being able to increase its investment by two-thirds to around £2.5bn each year.
Since it was founded in 2014, the BBB has handed out loans and loan guarantees to over 200,000 businesses and made investments in more than 3,000 firms, making it Britain’s biggest venture investor.
Louis Taylor, CEO, British Business Bank, said: “We welcome today’s announcement by the Secretary of State to deliver British Business Bank Industrial Strategy Growth Capital, as well as the reforms to the Bank’s governance and financial framework.
"Using our market expertise and reach, we have a critical role to play in supporting smaller businesses in the eight growth-driving sectors to grow and stay in the UK.
"To deliver the government’s growth mission it is also critical that our most promising entrepreneurs can access the finance they need to grow their businesses, no matter what their background or where they are located across the Nations and regions of the UK. .
"This is a strong endorsement of the Bank’s 10-year track record, market access and capabilities, including our position as the largest investor in UK venture and venture growth capital funds and the most active late-stage investor in UK life sciences and deeptech.”
IMAGE: PIXABAY
Would you like to write the first comment?
Login to post comments