British Patient Capital posts ‘very active year’ despite testing backdrop
BRITISH Patient Capital (BPC), the venture capital subsidiary of government-owned British Business Bank (BBB), has posted a “very active year” as it continues to back high-growth UK firms.
As the largest domestic investor in UK venture and venture growth opportunities, BPC announced that it now manages assets with a total value of £3.1bn.
During the year, BPC invested £341m across all programmes, bringing total investments since inception in 2018 to more than £1.6bn.
There are now 1,008 companies in the underlying fund portfolio, an increase of 332 on the previous year’s figure.
Four companies from BPC’s portfolio also achieved unicorn status during this period – Thought Machine, GoCardless, Lendable and Wayve.
Chair of BPC Russ Cummings said that although the industry was not immune to the increasing macro-economic uncertainty, the fundamental potential of the UK innovation economy remains “strong”.
“Importantly, as a patient capital investor that invests independently of market cycles, we take a long-term view. As such, we remain focused on funding the innovative companies of today, so they can become the success stories of tomorrow,” he said.