A new specialist venture capital fund will invest exclusively in high-growth businesses founded by refugees in the UK, catalysing the targeting of an overlooked segment of the UK’s entrepreneurial economy.
Launching with an initial £300,000 pilot fund, the Refugee Venture Fund (RVF) expects to make initial investments of £50,000–£100,000 in approximately three to five companies.
Using its specialism as a strength, it says it will demonstrate both the depth of investment opportunity within the refugee founder community and the potential for competitive financial returns, creating the evidence base for a planned £10 million fund focused on refugee-first investments.
The fund aims to begin unlocking an estimated £5.1 billion in currently untapped economic potential among the UK’s refugee population – realised through business creation and growth, job creation, increased productivity, investment and taxable economic activity. The same research estimates that 26,500 refugee entrepreneurs already contribute £520 million to the economy†.
Bringing together specialist knowledge of refugee entrepreneurship, venture capital expertise and early-stage investment experience, the fund has been set up by The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network (TERN) – the only UK organisation dedicated to supporting refugee entrepreneurs to start and grow businesses.
TERN has a decade of experience working with this community and has previously spun out Skylight Ventures, which provides micro-loans for refugee entrepreneurs. The fund has been set up in partnership with Atomico, with founding shareholders including the Ahluwalia Family Office and This Day Foundation.
Refugee entrepreneurs usually face structural barriers to finance that have little to do with the potential of their businesses. These include unavoidably limited UK track records; smaller professional and investor networks; unfamiliarity with the UK funding ecosystem; and misconceptions among investors and financial institutions about refugee communities and their potential.
“We’ve spent over a decade working with refugee entrepreneurs and have repeatedly seen that the problem isn’t a shortage of entrepreneurial ability or ambition. It’s access to the networks and capital that other founders can take for granted,” said Charlie Fraser, strategy & partnerships director at TERN.
“The RVF will back the UK’s most ambitious refugee founders, which traditional venture funds overlook. This is about closing a market gap, not lowering the investment bar.”
The pilot will operate with a small group of aligned cornerstone investors through a special purpose vehicle. The fund is industry-agnostic, but high-growth businesses, particularly in sectors such as software, AI and climate technology, will be of particular interest.
Eligible businesses must have majority-refugee ownership or leadership, and founders must be UK-based and have legal refugee status.
Sukhpal Ahluwalia, investor and founding shareholder, added: “Refugees bring a hunger, determination and drive to succeed, and this fund will help them build ambitious businesses even faster. That means new jobs, more British companies selling to the world, and a stronger UK tech sector.
“My family sought refuge here after escaping Idi Amin’s rule, so this one is personal for me. As I look towards my retirement to India, I want to help the next generation of founders keep the UK competitive for decades ahead.”
Having supported refugee-founded businesses in the UK for a decade, TERN will provide the fund with an established pipeline of prospective portfolio companies. The RVF will also work with universities, diversity-focused incubators, refugee scholarship networks, enterprise programmes and diaspora organisations to identify founders outside conventional venture-capital networks.
Portfolio businesses will receive 12 months of targeted coaching as well as access to TERN’s network of support. This includes on-demand access to industry experts, advisors, mentors and a peer community of more than 700 refugee founders.
The Refugee Venture Fund will open for applications in October 2026, with the first round of investments likely to close in February 2027. All pilot funds are expected to be allocated by April 2027.