Treasury puts £100m behind first-time VC managers beyond London
The next phase of the British Business Bank’s Investor Pathways Capital program could create up to 10 new funds. Founders hoping for a first round from them will need patience
- Investor Pathways Capital is a £400m program in total
- The government says Growth Guarantee Scheme changes will add £2bn a year of lending capacity by 2028–29
- It expects those changes to help an extra 12,000 smaller businesses a year get finance
Founders outside London should treat these managers as a new route to early-stage money, but a slow one: funds still have to be selected and start investing. Getting to know first-time managers while they build their pipelines costs little and can put a company near the front of the queue. A growth plan should not rest on a round from a fund that does not yet exist.
“This must involve stepping up our support for the businesses who invest in people, and this £100m boost will help provide the fuel to drive new life into local economies up and down the country.”John Healey, chancellor of the exchequer, HM Treasury
The Treasury said on 7 August 2026 that John Healey, the chancellor, is backing a £100m next phase of the British Business Bank’s Investor Pathways Capital initiative, which supports first-time venture capital fund managers.
In June the bank committed up to £90m to 10 new microfunds in the program’s first cohort. Applications for the next cohort, which forms part of the £100m, open in autumn 2026. The initiative targets managers from a wide range of backgrounds; the government’s reasoning is that such managers supply the early capital young businesses need to scale and that venture money should reach beyond London.
The announcement followed visits by Lucy Rigby, economic secretary to the Treasury, to businesses, lenders and investors in Sheffield and Leeds. It sits alongside reforms to the Growth Guarantee Scheme, a lending program for smaller businesses, which extend loan terms and broaden eligibility.
Sources
- HM Treasury and British Business Bank, “Venture capital access expanded for early-stage companies in UK”, press release, 7 August 2026. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/venture-capital-access-expanded-for-early-stage-companies-in-uk
