The British Business Bank has announced a cornerstone commitment of up to £50 million to support start-up and early-stage deeptech companies.
The investment will support venture capital company Longwall Venture Partners LLP’s newest fund, Longwall 4, through the bank’s Enterprise Capital Funds programme.
Longwall Ventures, based in Didcot, focuses on early-stage, science and engineering-led deep tech companies and has invested in more than 50 businesses to date.
Mark Sims, managing director and head of development equity funds at the British Business Bank, said: "The Enterprise Capital Funds programme plays a crucial role in helping early-stage funds raise capital with a cornerstone investment, increasing the amount of scale-up finance available for high-growth early-stage companies.
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"With businesses like OrganOx already pushing the boundaries of what’s possible, our continued partnership with Longwall Ventures will help uncover the next generation of breakthrough technologies and UK success stories."
This marks the fourth fund the bank has backed with Longwall, following previous commitments in 2008, 2012, and 2017.
David Denny, managing partner at Longwall Venture Partners LLP, said: "The UK’s strong research base across academia and industry has created a rich seam of opportunities to turn groundbreaking science into valuable businesses but these businesses often struggle to raise long-term capital to support them on their journey to commercialisation.
"We are excited to find the next crop of deeptech investments for our new fund."
The fund has already raised £86.2 million and aims to reach £100 million at close.
It plans to invest between £500,000 and £2 million into 14-16 companies.
