Fourth commitment under the Regional Angels Programme reflects five years of performance and SFC's national reach
SFC Capital has received a further £10 million from the British Business Bank under the Regional Angels Programme, extending the Bank's total commitment to £35 million.
The Regional Angels Programme is designed to reduce regional imbalances in access to early-stage equity finance. Following previous commitments of £25 million across three tranches, this fourth tranche of funding reflects the British Business Bank's continued confidence in SFC's ability to deploy capital effectively, support ambitious founders, and strengthen entrepreneurial ecosystems across the UK.
The SFC Capital team has deployed all previous commitments in full and the combined capital has funded more than 260 early-stage businesses across the UK, investing alongside SFC's SEIS and EIS funds as well as the SFC Angel Network. Investments made through the programme have generated encouraging returns and a growing number of successful exits: early cohorts from 2020 to 2022 are posting a total value to paid-in multiple of 2x, including several successful exits. Peopleforce, an HR software business acquired by a European recruitment technology company, returned more than five times the original investment. Ryft, a payments platform, recently delivered a partial secondary exit of up to 6.2x for early investors.
This new £10 million is expected to fund a further 100 companies, taking SFC's total Regional Angels Programme impact to more than 350 early-stage businesses. Reflecting the firm's commitment to backing entrepreneurial talent wherever it is found, more than half of SFC's investments are made outside London, with opportunities sourced through a broad network of universities, accelerators, incubators, and angel groups spanning the length and breadth of the UK’s Nations and Regions.
SFC now has more than 600 portfolio companies and over £180m under management. It was named the UK's most active venture capital investor by Pitchbook, named the UK's most active early-stage AI investor by Tech Nation, and won Best SEIS Investment Manager at the EISA Awards five years running.
Joseph Zipfel, Chief Investment Officer at SFC Capital: “We are delighted that British Business Bank has extended our Regional Angels Programme allocation by a further £10m. With £25m already deployed, we have proven that our model works: backing high-potential British innovation across the country, across sectors, and alongside exceptional angel investors. The results to date have been very strong, with realised exits and unrealised returns well ahead of average UK VC benchmarks, demonstrating both the depth of the UK’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and the strength of our nationwide approach.”
Mark Barry, Senior Director at the British Business Bank, said: “This further commitment from the Bank, which takes our total commitment to SFC to £35 million via our Regional Angels Programme, will be put to work to address imbalances in access to early-stage finance across the UK. This will allow SFC Capital to build on its track record of supporting high growth-potential businesses across the UK.”
Past performance is not indicative of future performance.