• Funds will be deployed alongside 24Haymarket’s Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) fund and Investor Network
• British Business Investments’ commitment, made through its Regional Angels Programme, will support early-stage businesses across the UK

24Haymarket, the London and Edinburgh-based private capital group, today announces that it has secured a £10m commitment from British Business Investments, a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, to accelerate funding of early-stage, high-growth businesses across the UK.

This £10m commitment from British Business Investments’ Regional Angels Programme will be invested alongside 24Haymarket’s own funding over the next three years. The Programme is designed to reduce regional imbalances in access to early-stage equity finance for smaller businesses across the UK.

The Programme will match funds raised via 24Haymarket’s private investors, including the 24Haymarket Managed Portfolio Service (MPS), an EIS fund which enables private investors to access a portfolio of early-stage companies across the UK.

By using its specialist knowledge, expertise and understanding of how investee companies operate, 24Haymarket is able to better support, mentor and manage those businesses from late seed and Series A stages, through commercial acceleration and growth funding. Since 2012, over 51 companies have benefited from 24Haymarket’s funding. These include Cambridgeshire-based Dogtooth Technologies, creator of a robotic fruit harvester for the agricultural industry, and myGWork, a recruitment and networking platform for LGBTQ+ people, which are the first two companies to be invested in by 24Haymarket through this commitment from British Business Investments. 

Judith Hartley, CEO, British Business Investments, said: “Our Regional Angels Programme is designed to address imbalances in access to early-stage finance in the UK and to increase the overall amount of capital available to smaller businesses through early-stage investors such as 24Haymarket. With this £10m commitment from British Business Investments, 24Haymarket will be able to increase its support for early-stage businesses across all regions of the UK, so they can flourish and grow.”

Paul Tselentis, CEO at 24Haymarket, said: “We are delighted to work with British Business Investments, one of the major investors supporting up-and-coming venture and growth equity managers in the UK. This investment supports the role that 24Haymarket plays as a leading player in the rapidly evolving business angel ecosystem. It is also consistent with our long-term strategy of complementing the powerful insights and post-investment engagement that our 24Haymarket Investor Network provide us with the scalability of a committed capital source - both from private and institutional sources.”