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Louis Taylor appointed Chair of British Patient Capital

Press release 09 July 2024

The British Business Bank has appointed Louis Taylor as Chair of British Patient Capital, a commercial subsidiary of the Bank. He takes over from Russ Cummings, who is stepping down after six years on the board which he joined when British Patient Capital was established in 2018. In 2022, Louis Taylor was appointed CEO of the British Business Bank, and continues in this role.

I am immensely proud to have played a part in getting British Patient Capital established from a recommendation which came out of the Patient Capital Review and overseeing its development to become the largest domestic investor in UK venture and venture growth capital. This was only possible because of the fantastic team I worked with at British Patient Capital and its board. British Patient Capital is a great British success story, both for the venture industry and also because it has demonstrated that it can produce commercially attractive returns. It has an important role to play in encouraging other UK institutional investors to invest in the asset class, to both drive and benefit from the success of our high-growth companies. Having given six years to the organisation, it is in a strong position, and the time is right for me do something fresh. - Russ Cummings outgoing Chair, British Patient Capital

Across its three programmes, British Patient Capital manages assets with a total value of £3,075m 1 and since it was established in 2018, has expanded to include the £425m Future Fund: Breakthrough programme and the £200m Life Sciences Investment Programme.

Russ Cummings has been an outstanding Chair and member of the Board over the past six years. He has made a significant contribution to the growth and success of British Patient Capital, which is now the largest domestic investor in UK venture and venture growth capital and the most active late-stage investor in UK life sciences and deeptech companies. He leaves an impressive legacy and I thank him for his commitment, significant contribution and wish him well.

- Louis Taylor Chair, British Patient Capital

New Board Director

Ian Connatty, the Bank’s Deputy Chief Investment Officer, has been appointed to the British Patient Capital board, which he joins as a Director, alongside Hazel Moore, Non-executive Director. He brings with him a wealth of experience in venture capital fund investing and has been with British Patient Capital since it launched in 2018 where he was Managing Director of the Funds business until 2021. After this he was appointed Managing Director, Direct and Co-investment where he established the £425m Future Fund: Breakthrough programme. Ian Connatty was appointed Deputy Chief Investment Officer in December 2023.

New Managing Director, Direct Investments, British Patient Capital

Tom Haywood has been appointed Managing Director, Direct Investments, British Patient Capital. Tom brings more than 15 years’ experience and joined British Patient Capital in 2019. He helped set up its direct investment function and completed Quantexa and Thought Machine as its first direct investments – both of which are now unicorns. Previously he was at Foresight Group and was an investment manager at EcoMachines Ventures. He also co-founded a biotech manufacturing start-up Puridify, which was subsequently sold to GE Healthcare. He began his career in investment banking at Deutsche Bank.

I am delighted to have been appointed to the board, at such an exciting time for British Patient Capital. I look forward to continuing to work with our fantastic team to deliver long-term patient capital to innovative companies in the UK. It is a pleasure to see Tom Haywood appointed Managing Director, Direct Investments, he is a respected professional with a strong track record of investment expertise.

- Ian Connatty Deputy Chief Investment Officer, British Patient Capital

Further Information

If you are a journalist and have a media enquiry, please contact mediaenquiries@british-business-bank.co.uk.

Notes to editors

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 £12.4bn 2 of finance to more than 90,000 smaller businesses 3 .

As well as increasing the supply and diversity of finance for UK smaller businesses through its programmes, the Bank works to raise awareness of finance options available to smaller businesses. The British Business Bank Finance Hub provides independent and impartial information to businesses about finance options, featuring short films, expert guides, checklists and articles from finance providers to help make their application a success.

The British Business Bank is also responsible for administering the government’s three Coronavirus loan schemes and its Future Fund, together responsible for delivering £80.4bn in finance to 1.67m businesses. These schemes are now closed to new applications.

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. Wholly owned by HM government, the Bank 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 on the British Business Bank website.

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