British Business Investments announces new £10m commitment to Syndicate Room
British Business Investments, a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, today announces a £10m commitment to Cambridge-based venture capitalist Syndicate Room.
The £10m commitment from British Business Investments’ Regional Angels Programme will be invested by Syndicate Room, which is one of the most active early stage investors in the UK. Over the five-year investment period, Syndicate Room plans to target a minimum of 250 investments, supporting the Regional Angels Programme’s objective to address regional imbalances and diversify the availability of angel finance.
The investment will be deployed alongside Syndicate Room’s Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) ‘Access Fund’ which launched in 2019. Part of what makes the fund unique is Syndicate Room’s indexing and analysis of the UK start-up market, along with access to a panel of approved ‘super angels’ – who are selected based on performance track record.
Judith Hartley, CEO, British Business Investments, said: “Our Regional Angels Programme is designed to increase the amount of capital available to smaller businesses with high growth potential. With this £10m commitment from British Business Investments, Syndicate Room will be able to increase its support for startups and early stage businesses of all sizes, so they can flourish and grow.”
Francesca O’Brien, head of investments at Syndicate Room said: “We use a unique data-driven approach to investing and have developed ground breaking analytics to map the UK startup equity market. Our strategy uses data and diversification and aims to build consistent returns by investing alongside angels with a proven track record. Alongside British Business Investments and other institutions we have over 300 retail investors invested into our fund. They have invested as little as £5,000 (a far cry from the time of the £20,000+ minimum of most EIS funds) and as much as £250,000 and are all backing British companies. We are delighted to see British Business Investments’ commitment and the fund will remain open for those who want to invest across a portfolio of the most promising early stage British companies.”
