The British Business Bank is committing up to £90m to support a new generation of UK venture capital fund managers, marking the first investments under the microfunds segment of its £400m Investor Pathways Capital initiative.
The Bank will act as a cornerstone investor in ten new microfunds – Evertrue Capital, Common Ventures, Openseed VC, The Tech Bros Fund, Almanac Ventures, Future Impact Ventures, Blue Lake VC, Firstdoor VC, Mustard Seed Fund and Twin Track Ventures – with fund sizes ranging from £10m to £20m.
Investor Pathways Capital is designed to widen access to venture capital by backing talented first-time fund managers from a range of backgrounds – particularly those who have faced barriers to raising institutional capital.
The initiative will support a more diverse and dynamic investment ecosystem across the UK, while unlocking new sources of early-stage finance for high-growth businesses.
Collectively, the ten microfunds will focus on pre-seed and seed stage investing, providing first-cheque capital to emerging businesses across sectors including technology, deeptech, artificial intelligence, climate, defence and consumer.
More than half of General Partners (GPs) in the cohort are women, representing 57% of the total GP base, and 43% of GPs are from ethnic minority backgrounds. Seven of the ten funds are led by solo GPs, with the remainder led by two- or three-partner teams.
The initiative’s ambition is to address long standing structural barriers to entry in venture capital and expand access to institutional funding for underrepresented groups.
“The first microfunds cohort under Investor Pathways Capital represents an important milestone, delivering on our commitment to build the next generation of UK venture capital investors,” says Mark Sims, managing director and head of development equity funds at the British Business Bank.
“By backing first-time fund managers and improving access to finance at the earliest stages, we are helping to create a more diverse and resilient pipeline of high-growth UK companies.”
