Growth Plan 2022: British Business Bank response
At today’s fiscal statement, the government announced plans to launch a new Long-term Investment for Technology & Science (LIFTS) initiative, designed to catalyse investment from pension schemes and other institutional investors into UK science and technology businesses.
Catherine Lewis La Torre, Chief Executive, British Business Bank, said:
“The lack of institutional investment into UK venture capital (VC) is a longstanding issue, and has meant that UK-based VC funds have historically been reliant on overseas capital.
“This important initiative has the potential to unlock billions of pounds of additional investment for the UK’s fastest growing and most innovative companies, while also enabling the UK’s pension savers to benefit from the value created by UK innovation.
“We are looking forward to engaging with the market to identify promising structures and vehicles to catalyse institutional investment into high growth potential UK science and technology businesses.”