The British Business Bank has committed £50m to Phoenix Court's family of funds, with NatWest, HSBC and M&G investing alongside it in a package the firm puts in the hundreds of millions of pounds. For NatWest it is a first: the bank has never before taken a direct limited partner position in an independently managed venture fund.
Phoenix Court is the London investment group built out of LocalGlobe, the seed firm founded by Robin and Saul Klein. It now runs capital across three stages: LocalGlobe at pre-seed and seed, Latitude at early growth, and Solar, a longer-duration vehicle designed to hold positions in companies well past the point at which a conventional ten-year fund would need to sell.
The commitments were announced on Tuesday at the firm's Britain Backing Britain event. Only the British Business Bank's £50m cheque was given a number. NatWest, HSBC and M&G did not disclose the size of their positions, and Phoenix Court described the four institutions' combined contribution as running into the hundreds of millions of pounds.
The structural point sits in the identity of the investors rather than the totals. UK venture funds have long raised the bulk of their capital from overseas endowments, funds of funds and sovereign investors. NatWest cited figures showing that while early-stage UK companies raised around $17bn (about £12.6bn) in the first half of 2026 — the strongest opening six months since 2022 — roughly 89% of UK venture deal value came from investors based outside the country.
For NatWest the commitment extends a push that began with the launch of its venture banking arm in April. "Banks can be part of the solution," said chief executive Paul Thwaite, framing the investment as a way of bringing capital, expertise and networks to companies the bank already banks.
Phoenix Court used the Solar pilot as its evidence. Saul Klein said the 18 companies in that portfolio generate £5bn in combined annual revenue and have created more than 8,500 UK jobs. He called the four institutions arriving together "a watershed moment".
What it does not yet do is change the arithmetic for most managers. A £50m development bank cheque and three undisclosed corporate positions flow into one of the better-established franchises in British venture; the harder test is whether domestic insurers, banks and pension schemes write comparable cheques to first-time and sub-£100m funds, where the capital gap is widest.
Original source: NatWest Group — https://www.natwestgroup.com/news-and-insights/news-room/press-releases/2026/natwest-backs-the-next-generation-of-uk-innovators-with-a-materi.html
