Extra £2.6 Billion Of New Capital Announced To Help Fund Growth

In welcome news yesterday (Mon June 23rd), the Secretary of State for the Department for Business and Trade, Jonathan Reynolds MP, announced that there will be an extra £2.6 billion of new capital committed through the British Business Bank, to help provide funding and promote growth for the economy in Northern Ireland and the other regions of the UK.

Many small businesses across NI will be able to benefit from this injection of capital. The British Business Bank Industrial Strategy Growth Capital will in total deliver up to £16 billion over the next 4 years, which will be invested in small businesses and innovative developments throughout the UK.

Critical The Most Promising Entrepreneurs Can Access The Finance They Need

Here is what Louis Taylor, CEO, British Business Bank, said about this announcement by MP Jonathan Reynolds, as copied from an article by Adam Morton in the Newry Reporter.

“We welcome today’s announcement by the Secretary of State to deliver British Business Bank Industrial Strategy Growth Capital, as well as the reforms to the Bank’s governance and financial framework. Using our market expertise and reach, we have a critical role to play in supporting smaller businesses in the eight growth-driving sectors to grow and stay in the UK.

“To deliver the government’s growth mission it is also critical that our most promising entrepreneurs can access the finance they need to grow their businesses, no matter what their background or where they are located across the Nations and regions of the UK.

“This is a strong endorsement of the Bank’s 10-year track record, market access and capabilities, including our position as the largest investor in UK venture and venture growth capital funds and the most active late-stage investor in UK life sciences and deeptech.”

And here are the measures that the British Business Bank Industrial Strategy Growth Capital will introduce, again copied from the same article. It says:

• Tackle the scale-up financing gap for priority sectors by investing greater amounts in companies through our direct investments, leading future investment rounds and making strategic large investments of up to £60m in UK companies that are at the forefront of driving innovation and growth.

• Build a long-term funding ecosystem by cornerstoning specialist venture capital funds investing in modern Industrial Strategy sectors and doubling our support for emerging fund managers.

• Work with industry to actively develop new products and solutions to support priority sectors and subsectors, for example by making early-stage direct investments into UK AI companies in areas of high potential with a view to keeping them in the UK longer term, or creating new specialist debt funds to leverage private investment into supply chains of priority sectors.

‘These measures are expected to deliver around £30bn of additional Gross Value Add (GVA) to the UK economy through incremental company growth over the life of the investments.’