£40m boost for fledgling firms

Start-up and scale-up businesses across all sectors are to benefit from almost £40 million of new funding, helped by the British Business Bank.

British Business Investments, a commercial arm of the lender, has unveiled a new commitment under its £100 million Regional Angels Programme, committing £10m to Startup Funding Club (SFC).

The commitment will be managed by SFC and invested alongside the SFC Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme and EIS Funds as well as the SFC Angel Network. SFC intends to deploy the commitment in more than 100 early-stage businesses in the UK to deliver the almost £40m sum.

The announcement comes as SFC uses the commitment to complete investment of £5m into 28 companies across the UK, in sectors ranging from healthcare and life sciences to new materials.

SFC aims to help high-potential start-ups succeed and to make angel investing more accessible. It has funded 200plus firms with a combined value of more than £1 billion.

Catherine Lewis La Torre, head of British Business Investments, said: “This £10m commitment from British Business Investments will allow [SFC] to build on its impressive track record of supporting high growthpotential businesses across the UK, particularly at a time when the business experience and financial support delivered by angel investors is needed more than ever.”

Joseph Zipfel, chief investment officer of SFC, said: “In these uncertain times, supporting angel investors and early-stage funds is essential to preserve the UK’S worldclass entrepreneurial ecosystem… this £10m commitment will act as a catalyst to our ability to help high-potential companies across all sectors and regions of the UK. We want to make it clear that the SFC is open for business and we look forward to working with entrepreneurs and investors across the country.”