Phoenix Court partners with British Business Bank and NatWest to support science and technology startups

Phoenix Court has stitched together a bigger domestic funding base for UK science and technology startups, with fresh long-term partnerships from the British Business Bank and NatWest announced at its Britain Backing Britain event. The firm also said M&G and HSBC are staying in the game. That matters because the fight here isn’t about buzzwords. It’s about who gets to bankroll the companies that grow from seed stage into proper scale-ups, and whether the UK keeps the upside or sends it offshore.

The numbers explain why Phoenix Court is making such a point of this. Dealroom ranks it as the top investor in EMEA, and among the top 0.01% globally, for backing seed-stage companies that later cross $100m in annual revenue. Phoenix Court says the UK has around 1,800 venture-backed businesses making more than £20m a year, but fewer than 1% have taken money from the major domestic asset managers involved in the Mansion House initiative. That is a pretty stark gap for a country that likes to talk about its innovation economy.

The British Business Bank commitment is part of a multi-hundred-million-pound investment into Phoenix Court’s funds, aimed at patient capital for companies that can grow into global businesses while keeping some of the value in Britain. NatWest is investing in LocalGlobe, Latitude and Solar for the first time through its innovation banking arm. And M&G is increasing its exposure after putting £50m into Phoenix Court’s Solar pilot fund, a three-year proof of concept focused on scale-up capital.

Solar’s portfolio spans AI, automotive, energy, financial services, advanced computing, robotics, semiconductors and travel. It includes Tide, Motorway, Monzo, Raspberry Pi and CuspAI. Phoenix Court says those 18 companies generate £5bn in annual revenue and support more than 8,500 high-value jobs in the UK, with 14 of them above £100m a year. HSBC is also committing capital across Phoenix Court’s funds, giving the firm access through HSBC Asset Management and HSBC Innovation Banking.

The pitch from Phoenix Court is simple: combine institutional money with its own multi-stage investing expertise, and more companies, jobs and returns stay in the UK. Saul Klein says Britain has built a huge innovation economy but still lacks enough domestic capital to scale it properly. The British Business Bank, M&G and NatWest are saying the same thing in slightly more polished language. That usually means the problem has been obvious for a while.