British Business Bank Portfolio Surpasses 50 Companies After €695 Million Scale-Up Push
The British Business Bank announced its direct equity portfolio has exceeded 50 high-growth companies, with over €695 million invested in UK science and tech scale-ups. The pace of investment has more than doubled in the past nine months compared to the previous four years.
Investment Volume and Objectives
The British Business Bank announced on Tuesday that it has invested more than €695 million (£600 million) into British science and technology scale-ups, increasing its direct equity portfolio to over 50 high-growth companies. According to the bank, direct equity investments have more than doubled since October 2025, with more invested in the last nine months than in the previous four years.
Leandros Kalisperas, Chief Investment Officer at the British Business Bank, said: “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. 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. We now have fuel in the tank and intend to put UK innovation in fifth gear.”
Portfolio Sectors and Strategy
The bank’s direct equity portfolio spans life sciences, DeepTech (including advanced manufacturing, clean energy and defence), AI, and FinTech. Since its first direct equity investment into Quantexa in 2020, the bank has built a diverse portfolio.
Charlotte Lawrence, Managing Director and Head of Direct Equity at the British Business Bank, added: “We are accelerating our ambitions to match the calibre of UK innovation. By investing £400 million per year into the most exciting venture backed UK scale-ups across life sciences, DeepTech, AI, and FinTech, we aim to act as an ecosystem multiplier and ensure the most innovative UK businesses have the capital and support to rapidly scale.”
Key Figures and Future Plans
According to data released today, the bank completed 18 new investments plus 18 follow-on investments in FY25/26, compared to 12 investments the year before. Total investments increased 2.5x from €86 million (£75 million) to €217 million (£188 million) year-on-year, and are expected to scale to over €463 million (£400 million) this year.
Business Secretary Peter Kyle said: “We are ramping up the pace and scale of investment – backing the UK’s highest-growth scale-ups at a level not seen before, through our modern Industrial Strategy. By more than doubling investment in just nine months, we’re giving firms the firepower they need to stay and scale here in the UK and drive the economy.”
The bank’s Five-year Strategic Plan aims to deliver deeper pools of scale-up funding by mobilising institutional capital at scale and supporting the launch of larger, growth-stage funds. The bank’s Investment business is expected to deploy around €2.3 billion (£2 billion) per year into the UK venture capital ecosystem, with approximately 20% allocated to direct equity activity. The strategy is expected to support 14-18 new investments per year, with initial cheque sizes typically ranging from €11 million (£10 million) to €46 million (£40 million) and long-term cumulative investments of up to €86 million (£75 million).
The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank, established in 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. As of March 2025, the bank’s core programmes support €26 billion (£23 billion) of finance to almost 64,000 smaller businesses.
