The British Business Bank has committed £180m to six venture and growth equity funds focused on AI and deeptech, with cheques ranging from £20m for Connect Ventures to £55m for Intrepid Growth Partners' debut fund.
The state-owned development bank is spreading the capital across every stage of the funding cycle, from inception and pre-seed through to Series B and later growth rounds. The move is the latest in a run of LP commitments since the bank's spending power was increased following last year's government review.
The six commitments
The largest allocation, £55m, goes to Intrepid Growth Partners Fund I, a first-time specialist growth vehicle dedicated to AI and co-founded by Mark Machin. Crane Venture Partners receives £35m for Crane III, which backs founders from inception to seed across AI, software, infrastructure and deep science.
Headline takes £26m for EU VIII, a $400m fund investing at seed and Series A across Europe with an AI focus. Entrepreneurs First receives £22m for its Early Stage Fund, which follows on into EF companies at seed, Series A and Series B.
Evantic Capital, founded by Matt Miller, secures £22m for Evantic Fund I, a growth-stage AI fund. Connect Ventures takes £20m for Connect V, a pre-seed fund targeting technical founders working across AI, hardware and real-world automation.
Why it matters for UK cap tables
The split reflects a deliberate barbell. Roughly £77m, or 43% of the total, is aimed at growth-stage vehicles (Intrepid and Evantic), the part of the market where UK founders have most often had to turn to US capital to lead larger rounds.
The remainder backs inception-to-Series B managers, several of which already have bank capital on their books. Entrepreneurs First's relationship with the bank goes back to 2016, when it anchored EF's first institutional fund. The bank has since invested directly in EF alumni including PolyAI, Accurx and Hadean.
Evantic said it has already invested or committed more than £150m into UK businesses, and that nine of its non-UK portfolio companies have opened offices in London.
Direct investments alongside fund commitments
The fund commitments sit alongside a growing direct book. The bank's £10m investment in Oxford optical switching spinout Salience Labs was announced a day earlier, and it has previously backed Wayve, Kraken Technologies, PhysicsX, PolyAI and Ineffable Intelligence directly.
Leandros Kalisperas, the bank's chief investment officer, said the UK's funding landscape "does not currently match our technical excellence", and described the commitments as part of a strategy to build deeper domestic pools of capital at every stage.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds framed the package as a sovereign-capability play, saying the UK should be "AI makers, not AI takers".
What's next
Final fund sizes for most of the six vehicles were not disclosed, so the bank's share of each fund cannot yet be calculated. For Headline, the £26m equates to just under a tenth of the $400m fund at current exchange rates. The commitments are expected to be drawn down over the funds' investment periods, which means the capital will reach UK founders over several years rather than in a single tranche.
Original source: BusinessCloud — https://businesscloud.co.uk/news/british-business-bank-commits-180m-across-6-ai-funds/ (also reported by Tech.eu and Sifted)
