British Business Investments, a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, has announced a £10m commitment to venture capitalist, Syndicate Room.

Over a five-year investment period, Cambridge-based Syndicate Room plans to target a minimum of 250 investments with the commitment from British Business Investments’ Regional Angels Programme – which aims 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.

Syndicate Room head of investments, Francesca O’Brien, commented: “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.”

British Business Investments CEO, Judith Hartley, 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.”

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