Venture heavyweights denounce government’s £1bn scale-up fund plans
The government’s flagship £1bn scale-up fund will miss out on top deals and chalk up poor performance for its pensioner investors should ministers select a traditional firm to manage it over a specialist venture capital shop, a group of the UK’s top early-stage investors has warned. The industry heavyweights, who between them are early backers [...]
A coalition of top UK venture investors has criticized the government's proposed £1 billion scale-up fund, claiming it will fail due to a lack of specialized expertise in management. The industry leaders, who have backed successful UK start-ups including Elevenlabs, Synthesia, and Fuse Energy, assert that entrusting the fund to a traditional institutional investor, such as M&G or Schroders, would "make a mockery" of the UK venture ecosystem.
They argue that specialist venture capital firms are better equipped to navigate the competitive landscape of early-stage investments, and are more likely to secure valuable deals and provide the necessary support for emerging companies. The warnings echo concerns that the government-backed fund, which will focus on science and technology, may miss out on top deals due to insufficient access to the most promising firms.
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