British Business Bank investment capacity hits £1bn with Longwall Venture £50m commitment

The British Business Bank, the UK’s national economic development bank, has committed £50m to Longwall Venture Partners LLP’s new £75m venture capital fund, Longwall Ventures 3 ECF LP.

This newly released fund will allow Longwall to continue investing in UK science, engineering and healthcare startups and early stage companies.

The British Business Bank, headquartered in Sheffield, made its commitment through the Enterprise Capital Fund (ECF) programme.

The ECF programme helps to increase the supply of equity to UK early stage and high growth companies by lowering the barriers to entry for fund managers to operate and incentivise private capital to invest in the UK VC market.

Longwall Ventures 3 ECF is the 25th fund backed through the scheme and takes the British Business Bank’s total investment capacity to over £1bn.

Longwall, based in Harwell, Oxfordshire, manages two earlier funds: the £30m Oxford Technology ECF LP launched in 2008; and the £40m Longwall Ventures ECF LP launched in 2012.

Matthew Frohn, partner at Longwall, commented: “We are delighted to continue our excellent relationship with British Business Bank as we launch our third fund.

“The enterprise capital fund programme has a proven track record in attracting new investors to this crucial sector for the UK economy and we thank British Business Bank and all our investors for their continued support.

“The UK has a strong tradition of innovation in science and engineering and we hope to partner with founders and entrepreneurs to ensure their businesses reach their full commercial potential.”

Ken Cooper, Managing Director, Venture Solutions, British Business Bank, said: “This investment into Longwall’s third fund – our 25th ECF – highlights our ambition to build on our position as the largest UK-based LP investing in Venture Capital, to enable the provision of this critical funding to support scale-up businesses across the UK.

“Our Enterprise Capital Funds Programme is a key tool to allow us to support venture capital funds that will operate in parts of the market where smaller businesses might not otherwise be able to access the growth capital they need.

“The Longwall Ventures 3 ECF LP fund, focusing on startups in the critical science, engineering and healthcare sectors, is a great example of our commitment to helping such businesses achieve rapid growth and benefit the wider economy.”

Looking to promote your product/service to SME businesses in your region? Find out how Bdaily can help →