British Business Bank backing for Haatch reaches £62 million
Press release
A further £10 million takes the Bank’s investment in Haatch’s pre-seed and seed funds to £30 million, alongside the £32 million angel syndicate platform Haatch manages on the Bank’s behalf.
- The British Business Bank has committed a further £10 million to invest alongside Haatch's SEIS and EIS funds, increasing its total commitment to £30 million through the Regional Angels Programme
- Combined with the £32 million angel syndicate platform managed by Haatch, total British Business Bank capital managed by Haatch now stands at £62 million
- The further £10m commitment allows Haatch to continue to exceed the typical SEIS funding cap, adding £85,000 to each £250,000 investment made
- Haatch continues to deploy the majority of its capital outside London, having invested over 70% of its funds into companies based in the UK's nations and regions
The British Business Bank has increased its commitment in Haatch’s pre-seed and seed funds by an additional £10 million. This brings its total commitment to £30 million through the Regional Angels Programme, which is designed to increase the availability of early-stage capital for businesses across the UK.
The additional capital means Haatch can maintain the pace of deployment across both its pre-seed and seed funds without diluting its regional focus. Every company backed through a Haatch fund receives matched capital from the British Business Bank alongside the fund's own investment, allowing Haatch to write larger cheques at the earliest stages and to exceed the typical SEIS funding cap by adding £85,000 to each £250,000 investment.
The commitment sits alongside a separate £32 million platform managed by Haatch on behalf of the British Business Bank, which invests alongside a growing cohort of the UK's most promising and diverse angel syndicates, including HERmesa, CircleRock Capital, The Games Angels and 2050 Capital. Taken together, total British Business Bank capital managed by Haatch now stands at £62 million.
To date, the British Business Bank and Haatch have co-invested in 208 companies with the number increasing every week. Haatch has backed more than 200 companies in total, with a combined portfolio valuation exceeding £1 billion, and has invested over 70% of its capital into companies headquartered outside London.
Fred Soneya, Co-founder and General Partner at Haatch, said:
Great companies are not built in one postcode, and the funding that backs them should not come from one either. This further commitment lets us keep deploying at pace across both our pre-seed and seed funds, and to keep writing meaningful first cheques in places where institutional capital has historically been thin on the ground. The British Business Bank has been alongside us in every company we have backed, and that consistency is what allows founders outside London to raise on the same terms as founders inside it.
Mark Barry, Senior Investment Director at the British Business Bank, added:
Haatch has built a strong track record of getting early-stage capital into the hands of founders right across the UK, and this additional £10 million allows that work to continue at scale. Alongside the syndicate platform Haatch manages on our behalf, this partnership is now directing £62 million of co-investment towards some of the country's most promising early-stage businesses, across the Nations and regions of the UK.
Further Information
If you are a journalist and have a media enquiry, please contact [email protected].
Notes to editors
About Haatch
Haatch is an award-winning early-stage venture capital firm founded by Scott Weavers-Wright OBE and Fred Soneya in 2013. Backing B2B SaaS and AI businesses at pre-seed and seed stage, Haatch has invested in over 200 companies, with a combined portfolio valuation exceeding £1 billion. Run by exited entrepreneurs and operators with over $200 million in exit value, Haatch launched its EIS fund in 2018 and SEIS fund in 2021, attracting over 3,000 investors, including business leaders and C-suite executives. Haatch is proud to partner with the British Business Bank, which has now committed £62 million alongside Haatch's funds and the angel syndicate platform Haatch manages, and also manages an £8 million co-investment fund with ESAIF, backing high-growth SaaS ventures in the East Midlands.
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. Its remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government.
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.
The transaction described above does not constitute or imply any endorsement, warranty or recommendation by the UK government, the British Business Bank plc, its subsidiaries or any other party of Haatch or its products or services.