252 diverse firms approved for the future fund
More than 250 companies that are diverse in terms of gender and ethnicity have been approved for £236.2m worth of convertible loan agreements as part of the future fund.
The scheme offers convertible loans ranging from £125,000 to £5m from the government, subject to at least equal match funding from private investors.
There have been 623 applications in total for the fund, which opened for applications last month.
The British Business Bank released data on the diversity of the firms approved for the fund, self-reported by the companies applying to the scheme.
Of the 252 companies that have been approved and received their convertible loan agreements for signature, 79 per cent of funding is to companies with mixed gender management teams.
Since the launch of the future fund, more than 30 venture capital firms and angel groups have become signatories to the government’s Investing in Women Code, alongside the future fund.
Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic only and mixed ethnicity management teams account for 56 per cent of funding to companies that have been approved for convertible loan agreements so far, worth £118.5m.
Almost half (45 per cent) of funding approved to companies for convertible loan agreements worth £106m have their headquarters located outside of London.
Of the total amount of £236.2m, 22 per cent is to companies headquartered in the South East and South West, 11 per cent in the North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber, six per cent in the East of England, three per cent in the Midlands and three per cent in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“The future fund plays an important role in providing funding for innovative businesses across the UK that are unable to access other forms of funding,” said Keith Morgan, chief executive of the British Business Bank.
“While the scheme was not set up to address wider well-known structural issues in the UK’s equity finance market for smaller businesses, I’m delighted to see this early evidence of the diversity in the management teams of the future fund companies.
“I am also extremely pleased to see so many venture capital firms and angel groups have become signatories to the Investing in Women Code, alongside the future fund.”
Some peer-to-peer lending platforms are either planning to use or already offering access to the future fund.
At the start of June, Assetz Capital announced that its launching a £500,000 Seedrs fundraising round and is looking to match this from the government’s future fund to make £1m. The platform exceeded this £500,000 target in less than a week.
Crowd2Fund plans to relaunch its platform in July, offering a future fund product for entrepreneurs and loans under the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme for small- and medium-sized enterprises.