The Future Fund: Breakthrough, opens today for applications.
The new programme was revealed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, during the budget speech this past spring. The £375 million scheme is designed to encourage private investors to co-invest with the government in high-growth firms. This UK-wide programme will deliver the funding via British Patient Capital, a subsidiary of the British Business Bank.
The UK government believes that these innovative firms have the ability to grow rapidly and have a significant economic impact – critical to the UK’s future prosperity and economic recovery.
Judith Hartley, CEO of British Patient Capital, commented:
“With many world-class universities and a strong track record in science and research, the UK is fertile ground for creating high-growth companies based on cutting edge technologies. Through the commercialisation of R&D, these transformative companies will help accelerate the deployment of innovative breakthrough technologies that can transform major industries; develop new medicines; support the transition to a net zero economy and strengthen the UK’s position as a science superpower. Future Fund: Breakthrough will enable these R&D intensive companies to raise the patient capital they need to fuel the later stages of their growth, and in doing so, help ensure the UK is a world leader in the industries of the future.”
Through the Future Fund: Breakthrough programme, British Patient Capital will make equity co-investments with private sector investors in later-stage R&D-intensive UK companies operating in technology sectors, such as quantum computing, cleantech, and life sciences. British Patient Capital will construct a portfolio of growth-stage breakthrough technology companies over time.
In order to be eligible for the scheme, companies must be raising a minimum total investment round size of £30 million and the maximum the Fund will contribute to an investment round is 30%. This means the minimum amount of private sector funding is £21 million. The company must also have raised at least £5 million of equity investment from third-party investors in previous funding rounds. The lead investor is the investor applying to the Fund and can be a new or existing investor. The lead investor does not have to be the largest investor in the round but is expected to contribute a significant amount to the investment round and meet the lead investor criteria. More details are available on the Fund’s webpage.
The Fund will invest on the same terms as private sector investors.