The British Business Bank has committed £180 million across six venture capital and growth equity funds, creating deeper pools of capital for the UK’s high-potential AI and DeepTech companies.
From foundational technology to applied solutions, the funds will back the UK’s AI innovators across all stages, from inception and early-stage funding through to Series B and beyond.
The six fund commitments are £35m to Crane III, which backs founders globally from inception through seed, building foundational technologies at the intersection of AI, software, infrastructure and deep science; £20m to Connect V, which backs exceptional technical founders at pre-seed stages. Connect V will invest at the intersection of AI, hardware and real-world automation; £22m to Entrepreneurs First’s Early Stage Fund, which backs the emerging leaders from the EF platform at seed, Series A & Series B, including high-potential AI infrastructure companies; £55m to Intrepid Growth Partners Fund I, a specialist growth investor dedicated to AI; £26m to Headline EU VIII, a $400m fund that will back Seed and Series A companies across Europe, with a focus on AI; and £22m to Evantic Fund I, which invests in and partners with globally-focused transformative AI companies at the growth stage.
Alongside its investment through funds, the Bank is backing UK AI companies directly. It recently made a £10m investment in Salience Labs, an Oxford spinout building optical switching technology that removes a key bottleneck in AI networking.
That followed direct investments in Wayve, Kraken Technologies, PhysicsX, PolyAI and Ineffable Intelligence.
“The UK has no shortage of ideas or talent. The problem is that our funding landscape does not currently match our technical excellence,” said Leandros Kalisperas (pictured), chief investment officer of the British Business Bank.
“This is what the Bank is changing. These commitments are part of our strategy to create deeper pools of funding at all stages of growth, helping companies to access greater capital domestically and allowing the UK to capture more of the economic value of its innovation.”
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “AI is going to be a transformative technology for our society and for our economy, which is why it is vital that the UK has its own sovereign capabilities.
“We have exceptional talent and world-class research capability, now we are working to make sure that there are funding opportunities for AI entrepreneurs which match that potential.
“This £180m investment from the British Business Bank will help to build the next generation of safe, secure, homegrown companies, ensuring we are AI makers, not AI takers.”
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Matt Miller, founder and managing partner, Evantic Capital, said: “We chose to build Evantic from London to be a bridge between Silicon Valley and the UK: helping non-UK companies invest and build here, and giving our UK companies a Silicon Valley network to help them win globally.
“We have already invested or committed over £150m in UK businesses. Nine of our non-UK portfolio companies have opened London offices here. The British Business Bank understands growth-stage risk as we do and is committed to a stronger UK.”
Robert Greenwood, senior director, funds at British Business Bank, added: “Building the UK’s AI ecosystem requires more capital, but companies also need the right investors at each stage of their development. The commitments announced today back specialist investors that will help AI founders build companies from their earliest stages through to global scale.”
Carl Bishop, partner and head of funds at Entrepreneur First, said: “Our relationship with the British Business Bank dates back to 2016 when they anchored EF’s first institutional fund. They have been an invaluable partner as we have scaled, providing sage advice along the way as we’ve grown.
“They have since also backed many of our companies, like PolyAI, Accurx and Hadean, with direct investments.”
Mark Machin, co-founder and managing partner of Intrepid Growth Partners, said: “The UK has an exceptional base of AI research, engineering talent and ambitious founders, but ensuring those companies can scale into global leaders requires deeper and more focused pools of long-term growth capital.”