There is a battle between major UK fund managers to run a new £1 billion fund backing homegrown entrepreneurs.

Last month Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced the UK Scale-up Fund – a first-of-its-kind vehicle dedicated to investing in scaling UK science and technology businesses – backed by a consortium of some of the country’s largest pension providers and supported by the British Business Bank as well as the Government’s Office for Investment.

Sky News reports that M&G Investments and Schroders are among the firms which have applied to manage the fund.