The FSE Group launches Future London Growth Fund to back ambitious London businesses
Press release
The new debt fund is managed by The FSE Group, with cornerstone commitments from British Business Bank and the Mayor of London’s investment arm, Funding London
The FSE Group has launched the Future London Growth Fund, a new debt fund designed to support the growth of ambitious scale-up businesses across London’s 32 boroughs and the City of London.
The Fund is backed by cornerstone commitments from British Business Bank and the Mayor of London’s investment arm, Funding London. Through its investment entity, GLIF Limited, Funding London has invested in the Fund as part of the Mayor of London’s ambition to support economic growth through the London Growth Plan.
The Fund expects to deliver more than £70 million of lending and is targeted at ambitious founders and businesses that may be overlooked or underserved by traditional finance providers. While London is home to one of the world's leading financial centres, gaps in access to growth finance remain a challenge for many smaller businesses across the capital.
Research from the British Business Bank’s Alone Together report1 highlighted how entrepreneurs operating in economically deprived urban areas can face additional barriers to finance and business success, despite being located close to established investment ecosystems. Only a small share of entrepreneurs run the kind of business that can benefit from the investment ecosystem that London is known for globally. The report found that London was the toughest place in the UK to be an entrepreneur, with 71% of business owners reporting a profit, compared with the UK average of 84%.
The Fund aims to address these challenges. Offering loans ranging from £1 million to £3 million, it is intended to address the gap between bank finance and larger-scale venture debt and will support companies with strong commercial traction and credible plans to scale. These businesses might not yet be profitable but are expected to achieve profitability as their growth plans are delivered.
Funding will help businesses scale and create new jobs while delivering lasting economic impact for London.
The Fund will build on FSE’s established track record of supporting UK SMEs with regionally focused debt and equity funding. FSE has actively supported London businesses through the management of the £66m debt portion of Funding London’s Greater London Investment Fund since 2019 and will bring its relationship-led approach, established local networks and experienced investment team to the new Future London Growth Fund.
FSE also manages part of the British Business Bank’s South West Investment Fund, Investment Fund for Scotland and Midlands Engine Investment Fund, and was recently appointed manager of the South East Investment Fund (Debt). It will continue to deliver vital funding to smaller businesses across each of these respective regions.
The Future London Growth Fund is now considering applications. Eligible businesses and advisers can find out more by visiting The Future London Growth Fund.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said:
London is the best city in the world to start and grow a business, but too often many are overlooked by traditional finance providers. As a key commitment of myLondon Growth Plan, the Future London Growth Fund directly targets that funding gap and will provide a huge boost to businesses looking to scale up, helping them accelerate development and create new jobs.
Delivering millions of pounds of support, the Fund will enable businesses to innovate and expand, bringing lasting economic impact as we continue to build a better, more prosperous London for everyone.
FSE CEO Julie Silvester said:
We are delighted to be launching the Future London Growth Fund to aid businesses with high growth potential across the capital. At The FSE Group, our core mission is to unlock potential in scaling businesses that traditional finance often overlooks.
Providing flexible, relationship-led capital gives ambitious management teams the freedom to innovate and create high-quality jobs. The Future London Growth Fund is a direct continuation of that ethos, providing the tailored support scaleups need to execute their next phase of expansion
Kala Desai, Head of the Future London Growth Fund at FSE, said:
London is home to an exceptional community of high-growth, innovative businesses, yet many still hit a barrier when accessing scale-up capital. Building on our proven track record, this new fund addresses that gap, providing debt finance to exciting and growing businesses across the capital. We are thrilled to bring dedicated finance to London’s founders to facilitate their growth and deliver long-term economic impact.
Adam Kelly, Managing Director, Debt and Regional Funds at British Business Bank, said:
It can be easy to assume that businesses in London have access to all the finance they need, but that isn't the reality for many ambitious founders across the capital. Smaller businesses operating in underserved communities, or those without established investor networks, can still struggle to secure the growth capital they need to scale.
Our £20 million cornerstone commitment to the Future London Growth Fund will help address that gap, increasing the availability of finance for businesses with strong growth potential and supporting economic opportunity across London's diverse communities.
Puneet Raj Bhatia, Managing Director at Funding London, said:
There is a well-documented lending gap for London's SMEs looking to scale: deals too large for early-stage finance, but often overlooked by mainstream lenders.
As the Mayor of London's investment arm, we're delighted to bring to market the Future London Growth Fund designed specifically to close that gap, and to have the expertise of FSE and the backing of the British Business Bank alongside us. Together, we are giving London's SMEs the capital they need to expand, create jobs, and contribute to the capital's economic growth
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Notes to editors
About The FSE Group
With over 20 years’ experience, FSE is an established investor delivering projection-led debt and equity funding to ambitious, high-growth businesses across the UK to help them scale.
Led by CEO Julie Silvester, FSE manages approaching £460 million of funds and has supported over 1,000 scaling businesses across a range of sectors including tech & digital, clean energy and advanced manufacturing. £300 million invested by FSE to date has helped the portfolio leverage an additional £780 million in private capital.
Its regional teams are deeply connected to local ecosystems and positioned to identify and nurture businesses that may otherwise be overlooked. In backing scaling businesses, FSE has supported sustainable growth alongside real economic impact, demonstrated by the creation and safeguarding of c. 12,000 jobs by its portfolio.
About Funding London
Funding London, the Mayor of London’s investment arm, aims to support economic development ambitions of London Growth Plan by providing loan and equity finance for London’s SMEs and enabling real opportunities for sustainable growth in early and scale-up stage companies. Returns generated from our funds are ploughed back into the London ecosystem, making investment available to the next generation. The Greater London Investment Fund (GLIF) operates as a fund of funds managing over £150 million in debt and equity funds. More information on Funding London and its funds can be found at www.fundinglondon.co.uk.
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.
In 2025/261Read footnote text 1 , the Bank supported UK smaller businesses to access £9.4bn of finance, made up of £1.3bn of public funding, £4.3bn of private capital crowded in by the Bank and £3.7bn of lending the Bank guaranteed. The funding benefited 38,000 UK businesses, including around 30,000 businesses the Bank had not previously helped to fund.
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.
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Figures as at end March 2026