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British Business Bank plans to commit $100m to SV Health Investors’ SV8 Biotech, the Bank’s largest fund commitment to date

Press release 08 December 2025

  • Bank plans largest commitment to date of $100 million to SV Health Investors SV8 Biotech
  • Bank’s commitments to life sciences funds exceed £500 million
  • Life sciences fund commitments exceed £3 billion in private sector leverage

The British Business Bank has agreed a $100 million cornerstone commitment to SV Health Investors’ (“SV”) new flagship fund, SV8 Biotech Fund LP (“SV8 Biotech” or the “Fund”) a multi-stage therapeutics-dedicated fund.

This fund commitment, which will be the Bank’s largest fund commitment to date, brings its total fund commitments to life sciences above half a billion, with £560 million committed across 15 life science funds. These fund commitments have collectively leveraged £3.04 billion from private sector investors, bringing in six pounds for every one pound invested. The commitment supports the UK’s Life Sciences Sector Plan and is the latest in the British Business Bank’s ongoing work to back the UK’s high-growth, high-potential life sciences companies.

The British Business Bank is the largest investor in UK venture and venture growth capital funds and regularly makes cornerstone commitments to funds that fit its strategy. By providing cornerstone commitments, the Bank enables a fund to achieve a first close and helps the fund to execute their planned strategy more effectively and often to a greater scale.

SV is a leading transatlantic life sciences specialist fund manager with a 30-year track record of consistently deploying capital into the UK’s growing life science companies, including high profile biotech companies such as EyeBio and Draig Therapeutics, Alchemab and Pulmocide. To date SV investments have resulted in the launch of 30 novel drugs and six new drug classes able to treat indications with unmet medical needs and deliver positive impact to patients. SV funds attract investment from pension funds, asset managers, family offices, charities, sovereign wealth funds and several of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies.

The British Business Bank has a long-standing relationship with SV going back ten years. SV’s biotech investment team manages a portfolio of specialist life sciences funds, including four that have received meaningful commitments from the Bank.

This includes commitments to SV’s two Biotech funds; the SV7 Impact Medicine Fund (SV7 IMF) in 2019 and SV Biotech Crossover Opportunities Fund (BCOF) in 2021, as well as SV’s two Dementia-focused funds; the inaugural Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF1) in 2015 and Dementia Discovery Fund 2 (DDF 2) in 2025.

This new commitment is a continuation of the commercial success of the Bank’s relationship with SV and the positive impact the funds have had on UK life sciences. SV8 Biotech will apply the successful investment strategy of its predecessors, SV7 and BCOF, to maximise the potential for success using industrialised precision medicine and AI tools to develop innovative new drugs.

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

This deal is good news for UK life sciences and, as the British Business Bank’s largest fund commitment to date, it demonstrates our commitment to the sector. The UK’s highest performing companies are in need of greater funding, especially at the growth stage, and we are ramping up our investment activity to meet this demand.

All of our investments are designed to mobilise institutional capital, both domestic and international, into UK venture capital. Our cornerstone commitments and the collaboration we provide in fund formation act as a pathfinder for other investors to go into the fund. Meeting the Bank’s investment criteria and passing due diligence acts as a positive signal that the fund, its team, and strategy are of high quality, with the intention this draws in other investors.

Mark Andrews, Investment Director, Funds, Life Sciences, British Business Bank, said, 

The Bank has successfully boosted funding for UK life sciences but there remains a strong pipeline of innovative companies that need scale up capital. This commitment reaffirms our long-standing relationship with SV, whose strong track record make them one of the UK’s leading fund managers and at the heart of the UK life sciences ecosystem.

Nikola Trbovic, Managing Partner, SV Health Investors, said,

The British Business Bank continues to be a valued partner to SV, which has a long history of investing in and transforming science into leading companies that bring positive impacts to patients. The support we have received from the Bank over the last ten years has helped enable us to fund some of the most promising UK biotech companies developing therapeutics to address significant clinical needs.

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 sustainable growth and prosperity across the UK and to enable the transition to a net zero economy, by improving access to finance for smaller businesses. Its remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government.

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.

The above transaction is operated by British Patient Capital Limited, a wholly owned commercial subsidiary of British Business Bank plc.

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.

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 in respect of SV Health Investors’ or its products or services.

About SV Health Investors 

SV Health Investors is a leading healthcare fund manager committed to investing in tomorrow’s healthcare breakthroughs. The SV funds invest across stages, geographic regions, and sectors, with expertise spanning biotechnology, dementia, medical devices, healthcare growth and healthcare technology. With approximately $2bn in assets under management and a truly transatlantic presence with offices in London and Boston, SV has built an extensive network of talented investment professionals and experienced industry veterans. Since its founding in 1993, SV has invested in, created and built more than 200 companies attracting global talent, entrepreneurs and pharma partners. To date, these investments have resulted in the licensing of 28 novel drugs and six new drug classes able to treat indications with unmet medical needs and deliver positive impact to patients. 

For more information, please visit SV Health Investors.

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