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British Business Bank accelerates direct investing activity, surpassing £600m invested across more than 50 UK scale ups

Press release 29 June 2026

  • Amount invested more than doubles in nine months, up from £290m in October 2025 to over £600m today
  • Direct equity portfolio swells from 31 UK companies to more than 50 since March 2025
  • Bank aims to deploy more than £400m per year into UK scale ups

The British Business Bank has invested more than £600m into the UK’s fastest-growing science and technology scale ups, increasing its direct equity portfolio to more than 50 high-growth companies. The Bank has more than doubled its direct equity investments since October 2025, investing more in the last nine months than in the previous four years.

The Bank has ramped up the pace and scale of its direct equity investing activity to tackle longstanding gaps in the UK late-stage capital market and support high growth companies to scale up and stay in the UK.

Since its first direct equity investment into Quantexa in 2020, the Bank has built a portfolio spanning life sciences, deeptech, including advanced manufacturing, clean energy and defence, AI and fintech, becoming one of the UK’s most active late-stage investors in key sectors shaping the UK’s future.

The Bank completed 18 new investments plus 18 follow-on investments in FY25/26, compared to 12 investments the year before. Total investments were up 2.5x from £75m to £188m year-on-year, and are expected to scale to over £400m this year.

Leandros Kalisperas, Chief Investment Officer at the British Business Bank, said:

Supporting UK scale ups is a national economic imperative. The UK excels at creating businesses, but our domestic capital base has yet to match our scientific excellence. Our activity should be interpreted as a clear signal to UK institutional capital that we want them to join us in backing UK scale ups. We now have fuel in the tank and intend to put UK innovation in fifth gear.

Charlotte Lawrence, Managing Director and Head of Direct Equity at British Business Bank, said:

We are accelerating our ambitions to match the calibre of UK innovation. By investing £400m per year into the most exciting venture backed UK scale-ups across life sciences, deep tech, AI, and fintech, we aim to act as an ecosystem multiplier and ensure the most innovative UK businesses have the capital and support to rapidly scale.

Business Secretary Peter Kyle, said:

We are ramping up the pace and scale of investment – backing the UK’s highest-growth scale ups at a level not seen before, through our modern Industrial Strategy. By more than doubling investment in just nine months, we’re giving firms the firepower they need to stay and scale here in the UK and drive the economy.

The Bank’s Five-year Strategic Plan aims to deliver deeper pools of scale up funding by mobilising institutional capital at scale and supporting the launch of larger, growth stage funds.

The Bank’s Investment business is expected to deploy around £2bn per year into the UK venture capital ecosystem with approximately 20% (£400m) allocated to direct equity activity. The strategy is expected to support 14-18 new investments per year, with initial cheque sizes typically ranging from £10m to £40m and long-term cumulative investments of up to £75m.

Further Information

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Notes to editors

About the British Business Bank

The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to drive economic growth by helping smaller businesses get the finance they need to start, scale and stay in the UK. In doing so, we help capture the economic value of innovation for the UK and create jobs and prosperity for people across the country.  

The British Business Bank’s core programmes support £23bn 1  of finance to almost 64,000 2  smaller businesses. 

British Business Bank plc is a public limited company registered in England and Wales, registration number 08616013, registered office at Steel City House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 2GQ. It is a development bank wholly owned by HM Government. British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. With the exception of BBB Investment Services Limited they are not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority or the Financial Conduct Authority. BBB Investment Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. A complete legal structure chart for the group can be found at british-business-bank.co.uk.  

British Patient Capital Limited is registered in England and Wales with company number 11271076, and registered office at Steel City House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 2GQ. British Patient Capital makes commitments and invests on its own behalf and on behalf of third-party investors whose investments British Patient Capital manages.

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