Observed Signal · Oct 2, 2026 · Market Signal · Source: British Business Bank · Impact: 2/5
Annual Report and Accounts 2026 published
The British Business Bank has published its Annual Report and Accounts 2026, replacing the 2025 edition. Additionally, a new £210m South East Investment Fund has been announced.
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British Business Bank commits €11M to Fuel Ventures
The British Business Bank has announced an €11 million commitment to Fuel Ventures through its Regional Angels Programme, aimed at addressing imbalances in early-stage equity finance across the UK. Fuel Ventures, a multi-stage VC founded by Mark Pearson, will use the capital to support early-stage UK tech companies from pre-Seed to Series A, including follow-on rounds for existing portfolio companies. This investment is part of a broader series of commitments by the Bank in 2026, totaling approximately €417 million across various VC managers. Fuel Ventures has deployed over €330 million into more than 230 UK companies since inception, with notable investments including Volt and acquisitions by Adobe and Carta.
UK expands IP‑backed lending for game studios
The UK government announced measures to expand SME finance, including support for intellectual property (IP)-backed lending for game studios. The package allocates £500 million to the British Business Bank's ENABLE Guarantee programme and expands the Growth Guarantee Scheme to facilitate an additional £2 billion of SME lending per year by 2028/29. The Growth Guarantee Scheme offers a 70% government guarantee on commercial loans up to £2 million and is expected to support about 20,000 businesses annually (up from 8,000). Trade body Ukie and the UK Video Game Council worked with the British Business Bank to help establish IP-backed lending as a route for studios to use their IP as collateral and access more debt finance.
UK VC Matches US Returns, New Funds Outperform
The British Business Bank's latest UK Venture Capital Financial Returns report reveals that UK VC funds have matched US long-term returns, with pooled TVPI of 1.78x for 2002-2021 vintages, equal to the US and ahead of Europe at 1.67x. Newer funds (2020-2024) outperform with 1.40x TVPI vs US 1.24x and Europe 1.27x. The report also shows UK late-stage funds closing the performance gap with the US, and generalist funds achieving 1.91x TVPI. Additionally, EU-Startups tracked UK fund closures in 2026 totaling around €2.50 billion, including QuantumLight's €432 million final close, Mouro Capital's €343.7 million first close, and Claret Capital Partners' €575 million growth-debt fund. The findings highlight a competitive UK venture market, though distributions remain lower than the US.
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