British Business Bank doubles investment in scale-ups to £600m

The British Business Bank has announced it has more than doubled its direct investment into UK technology and science scale-ups over the past nine months, rising to £600 million from around £290 million.

The UK government-owned economic development bank said its direct equity portfolio now includes more than 50 high-growth science and technology companies.

The bank said it has invested more over the past nine months than during the previous four years combined.

The expansion forms part of the bank’s strategy to provide greater access to growth capital for UK businesses, which the bank said will help them scale domestically rather than seeking overseas investment or relocating abroad.

Since making its first direct equity investment in data analytics firm Quantexa in 2020, the British Business Bank said it has built a portfolio spanning AI, FinTech, life sciences, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, defence, and other deep technology sectors.

Investment activity also increased over the last financial year. The bank completed 18 new

investments and 18 follow-on investments during 2025/26, compared with 12 investments the previous year. Total annual investment rose from £75 million to £188 million.

The organisation added it now plans to invest more than £400 million a year directly into UK scale-ups as part of its five-year strategy. The direct equity programme forms part of the bank’s wider investment strategy, which aims to deploy around £2 billion a year into the UK venture capital ecosystem.

Around one fifth of that funding is expected to be allocated to direct investments, with individual investments typically ranging from £10 million to £40 million and follow-on funding taking total support for some businesses to as much as £75 million.

Leandros Kalisperas, chief investment officer at the British Business Bank, said that 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,” he added. “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 and we now have fuel in the tank and intend to put UK innovation in fifth gear.”