British Business Bank invests £180M across AI and deeptech funds

The British Business Bank has announced investments totaling £180 million across six artificial intelligence and deep technology venture capital funds. This move comes as investors continue to show strong interest in these two fast-growing sectors. The state-owned investor is allocating £35 million to London-based Crane Ventures Partners' Crane III fund, which focuses on backing founders from their early stages to seed funding.

Additionally, the bank is investing £20 million in London-based Connect Ventures' Connect V fund, which targets pre-seed stage companies. Matt Clifford's Entrepreneurs First, an early-stage fund, is receiving £22 million from the British Business Bank. The bank is also investing £55 million in Intrepid Growth Partners' Fund I, a specialist growth fund dedicated to AI, £26 million in global investor Headline's EU VIII fund, and £22 million in Matt Miller's Evantic Fund I. These investments follow the British Business Bank's announcement of a £10 million investment in Salience Labs.

Leandros Kalisperas, the bank's chief investment officer, emphasized that while the UK boasts a wealth of ideas and talent, its funding landscape does not fully align with its technical excellence. The British Business Bank aims to address this issue by creating deeper pools of funding at various growth stages, enabling companies to access more domestic capital and allowing the UK to capture a larger share of the economic value generated by its innovations.