British Growth Partnership

The British Growth Partnership was announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Business and Trade in October 2024, to encourage more UK pension fund investment into the UK’s fastest growing, most innovative companies.

The British Business Bank has been at the heart of growing the UK innovation economy for the last ten years. We have a track record of successfully investing in the UK’s most promising high growth companies, both through funds and directly, and we are the largest investor in UK venture and venture growth capital funds ^{Read footnote text 1} .

Leveraging this position, the British Business Bank will create a new investment vehicle, the British Growth Partnership, for which we will seek to raise hundreds of millions of pounds from UK pension funds and other institutional investors to invest into UK venture capital, supported by a cornerstone government investment. Investments from the fund will be made on a long term, fully commercial basis, independent of government, drawing on the Bank’s capability and market access to  high potential companies across the UK.

In November 2024, Aegon UK and NatWest Cushon became the first investors to announce their intention to work with the British Growth Partnership with a view to making investments in the initial fund, subject to completing commercial negotiations, regulatory and due diligence processes, and agreement from the trustees where appropriate.

Timeline

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  Source: Largest LP investor in UK venture capital via Small Business Equity Tracker 2024, from BBB analysis of Pitchbook data for UK VC funds between 2017 and 2023, based on the amount of capital committed and the number of commitments made to funds.