British Business Bank invests £180m in six AI and deeptech funds
The state‑owned lender is putting £180m into six venture‑capital funds that focus on AI and deep‑tech, expanding domestic support for tech start‑ups.
16 Oct 2026 0 reads Compiled with AI
#British Business Bank #AI #deeptech
The British Business Bank announced that it will invest £180m across six venture‑capital funds that specialise in artificial‑intelligence and deep‑tech. The £35m earmarked for Crane Ventures Partners’ Crane III fund will back founders from inception to seed, while £20m will go to Connect Ventures’ Connect V fund to support pre‑seed companies. The Bank will also put £22m into Entrepreneurs First’s early‑stage fund, £55m into Intrepid Growth Partners’ Fund I, a growth fund dedicated to AI, £26m into Headline’s EU VIII fund, and £22m into Matt Miller’s Evantic Fund I.
Earlier Investments and Strategy
The £180m follows a £10m commitment to Salience Labs announced the day before, and is part of a broader strategy that also sees the Bank making direct investments in Wayve, Kraken Technologies and PolyAI. The Bank’s increased spending power, granted last year after a government review, is intended to deepen domestic funding pools across all stages of growth.
Leandros Kalisperas, the Bank’s chief investment officer, said the moves aim to match the UK’s technical talent with adequate capital, noting that 'the UK has no shortage of ideas or talent. The problem is that our funding landscape does not currently match our technical excellence.' The Bank said the new commitments form part of a wider plan to help companies access more capital and to keep economic value of innovations within the UK.