The British Business Bank has committed £180m across six venture capital and growth equity funds, all focused on AI and deeptech companies. The commitments cover stages from pre-seed to growth, and the Bank says they will create deeper pools of capital for UK founders.
The announcement came on 15 October 2026. The day before, the Bank invested £10m in Oxford spinout Salience Labs. The full Bank release is on the British Business Bank website.
What the six funds are
The six commitments are shown below, with the fund size where it has been reported.
| Fund | Manager | Bank commitment | Stage and focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Crane III | Crane Venture Partners | £35m | Inception to seed, across AI, software, infrastructure and deep science |
| Connect V | Connect Ventures | £20m | Pre-seed, across AI, hardware and real-world automation |
| Early Stage Fund | Entrepreneur First | £22m ($30m) | Seed to Series B, including AI infrastructure companies |
| Fund I | Intrepid Growth Partners | £55m ($75m) | Growth, with a dedicated AI focus |
| EU VIII | Headline | £26m (€30m) | Seed and Series A across Europe, with an AI focus |
| Fund I | Evantic | £22m ($29m) | Growth-stage AI companies |
Crane III is part of a wider raise. Crane Venture Partners announced $484m across four vehicles in September 2026, with Crane III accounting for $169m of that total. The fund backs founders from inception to seed, with a platform that spans Europe, North America, India and Asia-Pacific.
Connect Ventures reached a first close of $55m for its Fund V in September, against a target of $80m. Its founders have backed companies including Aikido Security and TrueLayer. The Bank's £20m is close to half of that first close, which makes it an anchor investor.
The Entrepreneur First commitment is for its Early Stage Fund. Entrepreneur First is a London company builder that works with people before they have a co-founder or a fixed idea. The Bank has backed the organisation since 2016, and the release notes that it has also made direct investments in PolyAI, Accurx and Hadean. Bizztor has also covered the top early-stage AI accelerators in the UK, which is useful context for founders weighing similar programmes.
Headline closed its EU VIII fund, a $400m vehicle for European seed and Series A companies, on 1 October. Intrepid Growth Partners closed its $525m debut fund in September, with backing from Temasek and others. Evantic, founded in London by Matt Miller, focuses on growth-stage AI companies and runs a fund with a London base.
Why the UK is backing AI and deeptech now
AI is attracting most of the new money. Tracxn data reported by BusinessCloud shows UK AI companies raised $9.6bn in the first half of 2026, up 360% on the same period in 2025.
Deeptech is growing too. Tracxn reports that UK deeptech companies raised a record $11.3bn in the first eight months of 2026. London hosts 14 of the UK's 17 deeptech unicorns.
London's position is also strong on other measures. Dealroom's Global Tech Ecosystem Index 2026 ranks London fourth globally and first in Europe, with 138 unicorns, which are private companies valued above $1bn. For a broader view of the numbers behind UK startups, Bizztor's UK startup statistics guide brings the figures together in one place.
The Bank says it is the largest investor in UK venture capital funds, having backed more than 150 of them. It also holds direct stakes in Wayve, Kraken Technologies, PhysicsX, PolyAI and Ineffable Intelligence, according to the release.
What this means for UK founders
The six funds cover different stages. Crane III, Connect V and the Entrepreneur First fund are the most relevant for pre-seed and seed founders. Headline's EU VIII fund suits European seed and Series A companies. Intrepid and Evantic back later-stage businesses, typically once a company has real revenue and a clear route to scale.
Early-stage founders should test the idea with real customers before they approach a fund. Bizztor's guide on validating a startup idea before writing a single line of code sets out a practical way to do that.
Founders moving beyond seed will face different questions about growth, hiring and expansion. Bizztor's guide on turning UK startups into scaleups covers those stages in more detail.
The Bank is also trying to draw in private investors. It launched VentureLink earlier this year, an online portal that lets pension funds and other institutions see Bank-backed funds open to new investors. VentureLink currently lists 18 funds.
For founders, the practical point is to match your stage and sector to a fund's mandate before you approach it. Bizztor's guide on creating a startup pitch deck in 2026 covers the structure investors expect to see.
What the Bank and fund managers said
Leandros Kalisperas, Chief Investment Officer of the British Business Bank, said:
The UK has no shortage of ideas or talent. The problem is that our funding landscape does not currently match our technical excellence. This is what the Bank is changing. These commitments are part of our strategy to create deeper pools of funding at all stages of growth, helping companies to access greater capital domestically and allowing the UK to capture more of the economic value of its innovation.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said:
AI is going to be a transformative technology for our society and for our economy, which is why it is vital that the UK has its own sovereign capabilities. We have exceptional talent and world-class research capability, now we are working to make sure that there are funding opportunities for AI entrepreneurs which match that potential.
This £180m investment from the British Business Bank will help to build the next generation of safe, secure, homegrown companies, ensuring we are AI makers, not AI takers.
Matt Miller, Founder and Managing Partner, Evantic Capital, said:
We chose to build Evantic from London to be a bridge between Silicon Valley and the UK: helping non-UK companies invest and build here, and giving our UK companies a Silicon Valley network to help them win globally.
We have already invested or committed over £150M in UK businesses. Nine of our non-UK portfolio companies have opened London offices here. The British Business Bank understands growth-stage risk as we do and is committed to a stronger UK. We are grateful to have them as a partner. As the UK succeeds, we all succeed.
Robert Greenwood, Senior Director, Funds, at British Business Bank, said:
Building the UK's AI ecosystem requires more capital, but companies also need the right investors at each stage of their development. The commitments announced today back specialist investors that will help AI founders build companies from their earliest stages through to global scale.
Carl Bishop, Partner and Head of Funds at Entrepreneur First, said:
Our relationship with the British Business Bank dates back to 2016 when they anchored EF's first institutional fund. They have been an invaluable partner as we have scaled, providing sage advice along the way as we've grown.
They have since also backed many of our companies, like PolyAI, Accurx and Hadean, with direct investments. We are delighted to continue our long-standing relationship by working together on this fund, which will help to maintain the UK's position as a global hub for AI talent and innovation, as the importance and capabilities of this technology continue to grow quickly.
Mark Machin, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Intrepid Growth Partners, said:
The UK has an exceptional base of AI research, engineering talent and ambitious founders, but ensuring those companies can scale into global leaders requires deeper and more focused pools of long-term growth capital.
The British Business Bank has been hugely impactful in strengthening that funding environment and helping more high-potential UK technology companies build and grow from here. We are delighted to have the Bank's backing to invest in the next generation of AI companies emerging from the UK.
