British Patient Capital (BPC), a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of British Business Bank plc, the UK government’s economic development bank, says it is deliverying strong results corresponding to its business plan. BPC believes that the advent of COVID-19 will drive a wave of “tranformative” innovation.
According to a release, British Patient Capital has not topped £1 billion in investment commitments. BPC’s investment strategy is described as sector agnostic with portfolio companies aligning under eight sectors:
- Future of work and education (19%)
- Marketplaces and consumer (18%)
- Digital health and life sciences (15%)
- Big data and AI (13%)
- Fintech (13%)
- Clean growth, sustainability and mobility (9%)
- Cybersecurity (5%)
- Frontier tech (5%)
During the past fiscal year ending March 31, 2020, BPC made 11 new commitments totaling £405 million. At £1.004 billion, BPC claims to be the largest domestic investor in UK venture and venture growth capital.
BPC reports “an attractive rate of return for the UK taxpayer” with an internal rate of return (IRR) of 10.7%.
BPC highlights several new investments during the fiscal year including:
- $50 million investment in Atomico’s fifth fund
- $45 million in Balderton Capital’s seventh fund
- $65 million cornerstone investment to SV Health Investors’ first dedicated biotech fund
In April 2019, BPC announced their first third-party investment mandate, £250 million on behalf of the Nuclear Liabilities Fund (NLF)
Judith Hartley, CEO of BPC, commented:
“During the 12 months to March 2020, British Patient Capital made 11 commitments to new venture and venture growth funds, increasing our total fund investments to 42. In terms of investment amount, we committed £405m in the year to March 2020, taking our total commitments to just over £1bn. This is a clear demonstration of the scale at which we can now deploy capital, and a reflection of the market opportunity. The number of underlying companies within our portfolio has also increased from 322 to 503 over the 12-month period. Many of these are leading edge, innovative companies operating in key sectors such as Life Sciences, AI & Big Data, Cybersecurity and Fintech, and are well positioned to support economic growth as we adapt to the impact of Covid-19. While it is still early in the life of British Patient Capital and the funds to which we have made commitments, it is encouraging that we continue to achieve a positive return.”
Russ Cummings, Chair of BPC, added that their long term vision is for more home-grown, high growth companies to fulfill their potential on the global stage.
“As we adapt to the impact of Covid-19, breakthrough innovations based on digitisation, deep technology and life sciences are set to create a wave of transformative, high-growth companies. With many world-class universities, a strong track record in science and research, and a technology sector now regularly producing global champions, the UK is well positioned to be a leader of this wave,” said Cummings.
The BPC Annual Report may be downloaded here.