Long-term Investment for Technology and Science (LIFTS)

About the initiative

The Long-term Investment for Technology and Science (LIFTS) initiative aims to establish new funds or investment structures to crowd in UK institutional investment, particularly Defined Contribution (DC) pension funds, to support the growth and ambitions of the UK’s most innovative science and technology companies. 

Following a call for proposals, the British Business Bank announced in November 2024 that it had completed a £250m investment into Schroders Capital’s new LTAF that is accessible to pension funds and other institutional investors. The investment was matched by £250m of pension investment from Phoenix Group, the UK’s largest long-term savings and retirement business, creating a £500m investment vehicle which is projected to grow to over £1bn in the coming years. 

The LTAF offers defined contribution and other institutional investors the opportunity to participate in the growth and development of groundbreaking UK late-stage companies focused on technology and science with 20% of the fund expected to be invested in life sciences.

Key objectives of the initiative

The LIFTS initiative aims to achieve three objectives that will support the long-term and sustainable growth of the UK:

• Unlock UK institutional investment – catalyse more investment from UK DC pension schemes into venture and growth equity in a sustainable manner, so as to increase the supply of domestic sources of capital for productive investment and increase access to potentially higher returning assets for UK savers. Institutions that are both able to invest at scale and take a long-term view to investment, such as the numerous DC pension schemes that are accruing assets due to automatic enrolment, are uniquely positioned to provide stable, patient capital to parts of the economy that require intensive or long-term capital provision. The outcome will be to support the UK’s innovative businesses to accelerate their growth while delivering potentially higher returns for pension scheme members.
• Catalyse investment into UK science and technology – increase the supply of capital to UK science and technology scale-ups at the later stages. The UK has a wealth of science and technology businesses, which could offer valuable investment opportunities for UK savers. In addition, the Bank and others have identified a funding gap for R&D-intensive businesses seeking significant rounds of capital to scale up and accelerate their growth. We want to enable DC pension schemes to participate in these investments, providing potential benefits to their members and enabling these businesses to access the scale-up capital they need.
• Stimulate the UK VC ecosystem – sustainably increase deal flow, develop the domestic venture landscape and nurture investment and entrepreneurial talent, and attract the best international players to the UK to enable high-potential UK businesses to scale and stay here.

Impact

The LIFTS initiative is expected to generate over a billion pounds of investment into UK science and technology companies. UK savers will be able to benefit from the potential returns and investment diversification that these innovative sectors can provide, whilst also backing homegrown businesses.
Schroders Capital will invest across companies that are pioneering the development of long-term innovation themes such as life sciences, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, fintech, cybersecurity and oncology.

• Equity Track Record Proforma
• Call for Proposals LIFTS
• LIFTS investment completion