The UK Government has announced an increase in the British Business Bank’s total financial capacity to £25.6bn.

The move is part of a broader transformation to support the UK’s modern Industrial Strategy and enhance financing for smaller businesses to start and scale.

With this expanded capacity, the bank will increase its annual investments by two-thirds, reaching approximately £2.5bn.

The government expects this to attract tens of billions of pounds in private capital, supporting UK businesses in scaling up.

The bank said its equity programmes have supported more than half of the UK’s current unicorns, with 22 unicorns benefiting from the bank’s initiatives, representing 56% of all current UK unicorns.

Furthermore, changes to the British Business Bank’s governance structure and funding framework have also been confirmed. These will be implemented by the end of this financial year.

The reforms will enable the bank to manage a higher volume of investment activity and establish a permanent capital base.

British Business Bank CEO Louis Taylor said: “As the public financial institution with responsibility for supporting the growth of smaller businesses across the UK, the British Business Bank will play a critical role in delivering the UK’s upcoming modern Industrial Strategy. 

“We welcome today’s announcement by the government, which is a strong endorsement of the British Business Bank’s ten-year track record, market access and capabilities, including our position as the largest investor in UK venture and venture growth capital funds and the most active late-stage investor in UK life sciences and deeptech. 

“To deliver the Government’s growth mission, it is critical that our most promising entrepreneurs can access the finance they need to grow their businesses, no matter what their background or where they are located.”

Recently, the British Business Bank achieved £5bn in lending through its ENABLE structured guarantee programmes.

These programmes, including ENABLE Guarantees and ENABLE Build, have distributed over £3bn to businesses outside London and the South East, supporting SMEs across the UK.

Notably, £500m has been allocated to each of the North West, East Midlands, and East of England regions.