The Business Growth Fund (BGF), a capital investor in startups from the UK and Ireland, has raised its total funding for the UK Enterprise Fund (UKEF) to £80m following a partnership with Coutts.
The UKEF fund launched in June 2021 with £40m of committed capital. A further £40m has now been raised through the close of its second funding round from Coutts, the private banking arm of NatWest Group.
The additional funding means more capital to invest in startups and scaleups, adding to the £2.5bn on its balance sheet. BGF typically invests between £2m-£15m and takes a minority shareholding in the companies it backs.
“By its nature, UKEF is an innovative and highly differentiated offering in equity investing. Through UKEF, Coutts’ clients are able to increase their exposure in privately-held UK companies, whilst benefiting from the due diligence, robust governance and skilled investment expertise that comes with the BGF platform,” said Andy Gregory, CEO of BGF.
“Whilst we are acutely aware of the current macro-economic environment for businesses and investors, BGF’s long-term model provides us with the economic means and mindset to view investments and exits from a longer-term horizon, which has proved highly attractive to UKEF investors and indeed to the diverse set of scaleup companies that we continue to back.”
Notable previous investments made by BGF include events booking app Dice, payments infrastructure provider Paddle, and driverless vehicle software developer Oxbotica. Established in 2011, BGF has 16 offices in the UK and Ireland and has backed more than 500 startups.
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