British Business Bank launches £210m South East Investment Fund
Business Economic Syndicated News 
The British Business Bank has launched a £210m South East Investment Fund offering loans of between £25,000 and £2m and equity investments of up to £5m to small and medium-sized businesses in the region. The fund, which opened on 9 September, has already made its first investment, a £250,000 loan to a Basingstoke technology company.
It covers Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Sussex, Surrey and Kent. The bank said the fund is intended to help businesses start, scale and grow, and to support innovation, job creation and sustained economic growth in the region.
The fund will be run by two managers appointed by the bank. The FSE Group will manage the debt finance part of the fund, while Maven Capital Partners will manage its equity investments. According to the fund’s page on the British Business Bank’s website, it is open for applications and is designed to serve rural, coastal and urban communities across the region.
The first loan has gone to Process Vision, which the bank said is using the funding to back its next phase of commercial growth and international expansion.
Finance in every nation and region
The East of England Investment Fund is due to launch later in September. Once both funds are live, the bank said, it will be delivering targeted finance across every UK nation and region outside London. Its existing Nations and Regions Investment Funds cover the North of England, the Midlands, the South West, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The two new funds were set out in the bank’s five-year strategy for small business finance, which included plans for new regional investment funds in the East and South East of England alongside a wider expansion of its lending and investment activity.
The bank said the launch supports the government’s plan for growth in every postcode by helping businesses access finance close to home.
Equity investment in the region
The South East is home to 17 per cent of the UK’s university spinout businesses, behind only London, according to the bank, but received 5 per cent of the UK’s total equity investment by value in 2025. The bank said the fund would help ensure the bridge between academic innovation and market deployment is adequately supported in the region.
The bank’s Small Business Equity Tracker, published on 2 July, put equity investment in UK smaller businesses at £12.3bn in 2025, down 4 per cent on the previous year, with 57 per cent of the total going to London-based companies.
Earlier research from the bank found the South East led the recovery in bank lending to small businesses, with the value of loans approved in the region rising 21 per cent in 2023.
David Hourican, the bank’s incoming interim chief executive, said the launch “will help to stimulate economic growth throughout the region”.
“The South East of England is home to some of the UK’s most innovative technological and scientific businesses,” he said, adding that the fund would ensure businesses had local access to the finance they need to grow, scale and expand.
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “Small businesses are the bedrock of our economy and a vital part of any high street, whether it’s a tech startup in Surrey or a creative agency in Margate. Making sure that smaller businesses have the backing they need to thrive is a crucial part of creating good growth in every postcode.”
“We are determined not to let access to investment be a barrier to success for businesses in the South East,” he said. “The launch of this fund will help to ensure that small businesses across the South East can grow to match their ambitions, whether that is bringing in new staff, moving into a new base or scaling into an international company.”
Isis du Jour, founder of Yoga Yurt, who started her business with support from the British Business Bank, said: “I am incredibly grateful for the support of British Business Bank which made it possible for me to start my dream business. The whole process was very detailed and informative, leading me to consider all aspects of my business from marketing strategy to sales prognoses and target audience.”
