Search British Business Bank
Popular Search placeholder

British Business Bank publishes names of the companies in which Future Fund has a shareholding

Press release 13 September 2021

Today the British Business Bank publishes a list of 158 companies in which the Future Fund holds an equity stake. Launched on 20 May 2020, and open for applications until 31 January 2021, the Future Fund issued 1,190 innovative companies with Convertible Loan Agreements worth £1.14bn. Third-party investors were required to at least match the Future Fund’s investment.

Companies in which Future Fund is a shareholder include Vaccitech, a co-inventor of the Astra Zeneca Covid-19 vaccine, AI education specialist Century Tech, and Ripple Energy, which allows customers to own shares of a wind farm.

The Future Fund supports innovative UK companies that typically rely on equity investment to fund their growth. By creating a bridge to the next equity funding round, the Future Fund supported these companies through a period of considerable economic disruption and now the recovery.

The scheme used a recognised financial instrument known as a convertible loan. Unlike an equity investment, there wasn’t a requirement under the convertible loan to value the company or the price of its shares, at a time when company valuations had been significantly impacted by Covid-19. Instead, the convertible loans are designed to convert into equity at the next equity funding round, converting at a discount to the price per share agreed between companies and investors in the funding round.

At 31 August 2021,158 convertible loans had converted into equity shares, meaning the companies have successfully raised further private sector capital through an equity funding round.

The Future Fund was created to increase the flow of capital to innovative companies at the height of the pandemic, while ensuring long-term value for the UK taxpayer. We’re delighted to see so many companies already going on to raise further private sector capital. As a shareholder in so many promising businesses, the Future Fund is well positioned to support, and benefit from their continued growth. - Ken Cooper Managing Director, Venture Solutions, British Business Bank

The companies and their location are listed on the British Business Bank website. The British Business Bank will update the list of companies in which Future Fund has a shareholding at the end of every financial quarter.

Further information on the Future Fund is available on the British Business Bank website.

On 6 July the British Business Bank published data that gives a final comprehensive picture of how the Future Fund has supported businesses during the pandemic. This is available on the British Business Bank website.

The list of companies in which the Future Fund is a shareholder is at 31 August, 2021

Notes to editors

Future Fund

The Future Fund was established to support the UK’s innovative businesses affected by Covid-19. These businesses were unable to access other government business support programmes, such as CBILS, because they are either pre-revenue or pre-profit and typically rely on equity investment. The Future Fund, now closed to new applications, provided UK-based companies with convertible loans, on the condition that third-party investors at least match the Government’s commitment. The convertible loans are designed to convert into equity at the next equity funding round. The Future Fund was developed by government and delivered by the British Business Bank.

About the British Business Bank

The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to drive sustainable growth and prosperity across the UK, and to enable the transition to a net zero economy, by improving access to finance for smaller businesses. Its remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government.

The British Business Bank’s core programmes support over £7.9bn 1  of finance to more than 93,000 smaller businesses 2 . Between March 2020 and March 2021, the British Business Bank was responsible for running the government’s Coronavirus business loan schemes, delivering more than £79bn of finance to over 1.67m businesses.

As well as increasing both supply and diversity of finance for UK smaller businesses through its programmes, the Bank works to raise awareness of the finance options available to smaller businesses. The British Business Bank Finance Hub provides independent and impartial information to businesses about their finance options, featuring short films, expert guides, checklists and articles from finance providers to help make their application a success. In light of the coronavirus pandemic and EU Exit, the Finance Hub has expanded and it now targets a wider business audience. It continues to provide information and support for scale-up, high growth and potential high growth businesses, but now provides increased content, information and products for businesses in survival and recovery mindsets. The Finance Hub has been redesigned and repositioned to reflect this, during this period of economic uncertainty.

British Business Bank plc is a public limited company registered in England and Wales, registration number 08616013, registered office at Steel City House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 2GQ. It is a development bank wholly owned by HM Government. British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. They are not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A complete legal structure chart for the group can be found at british-business-bank.co.uk.

Quick links

Latest news