British Business Bank makes £40m commitment to Lansdowne Partners’ latest fund
The British Business Bank has made a £40m cornerstone commitment to Lansdowne Partners’ latest fund as part of a £111m first close. The fund has also secured cornerstone commitments from Aviva Investors and Lloyds Banking Group, demonstrating growing participation from UK institutional investors into venture capital in line with the objectives of the Mansion House reforms.
Founded in 1998, Lansdowne Partners is a UK-based investment firm that focuses on equity strategies. Lansdowne latest fund is the manager’s debut institutional growth fund focused on backing UK-based R&D-intensive scale-ups. The fund will identify high potential UK companies emerging from the UK’s world class research base and wider startup ecosystem, supporting them at key value inflection points as they scale up.
This strategy reflects Lansdowne Partners’ conviction that some of the most compelling investment opportunities today lie in scaling innovative UK companies whose intellectual property is often significantly undervalued relative to international peers. The fund will invest across a range of sectors, including healthcare data, quantum computing, natural capital, advanced materials, semiconductors, and defence technology.
The fund aligns closely with two of the Bank’s core strategic objectives, both increasing the availability of scale-up capital and mobilising institutional capital into the UK’s innovation economy.
Christine Hockley, managing director and co-head of funds at British Business Bank, said, “The UK has one of the world’s largest venture capital markets, but there remains a significant opportunity to increase participation from domestic institutional investors. We are now seeing tangible momentum behind the Mansion House agenda, with pension funds and insurers increasingly looking at how they can access the growth potential of UK companies. Lansdowne’s first close is a strong example of progress in the mobilisation of UK institutional capital into the UK’s innovation economy.”
Chris Smart, director at British Business Bank, said, “There is a clear alignment between Lansdowne’s strategy and the Bank’s objectives. The UK has a strong track record of generating breakthrough technologies, yet there remains a shortage of scale up capital. Lansdowne’s strategy is designed to address that gap, supporting more UK IP rich companies to access the capital they need to develop into globally competitive businesses.”
Peter Davies, partner and head of developed markets at Lansdowne Partners, said, “We are incredibly excited to be working alongside such a strong group of institutional partners on this initiative. The UK has at least as much intellectual property per capita as any country in the world. Yet too often the companies built around those ideas struggle to access the capital needed to scale globally. By backing a concentrated set of exceptional businesses with substantial capital and disciplined strategic guidance, we aim to help them realise their potential to be global leaders and drive domestic economic growth while delivering strong returns for our investors.”