Budget funding for ‘Angel Investors’ to help level up opportunities for small businesses

• £150 million funding for regional ‘angel investors’ expected in budget as part of plan to level up the country
• Will help small businesses outside of London get access to the early funding they need to get off the ground and grow
• Over 200 businesses have already benefitted from the British Business Bank scheme

Plans to level up the country are set to get a boost in the budget next week with help for budding entrepreneurs to set up businesses outside of London and the South East. 

It is expected that the Chancellor will announce a £150 million pot of funding for the British Business Bank to encourage the development of regional networks of Dragon’s Den-style of ‘angel investors’ to help make people’s dreams of starting a business a reality.

This is part of the government’s plan to level up across the country by helping small businesses get access to the early funding they need to get off the ground and grow. Innovative start-ups in the regions often fail to get the funding they need to grow due to a lack of specialist investor networks in their areas.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak said: 

“As we level up the country it’s vital that we harness the skills and talents of everyone, not just those who live in London and the South East.

“Small businesses are the lifeblood of our towns and cities up and down the UK, but all too often those based in the regions miss out on the backing of the investors they need. This extra funding will help budding entrepreneurs and develop networks of angel investors across the UK.”

Run by the British Business Bank, the Regional Angels Programme helps to reduce regional imbalances in access to early stage funding. The programme works alongside financial backers to build these investor networks and increase the funding available for budding entrepreneurs and their business ideas.  

As of June 2021, over 200 businesses have already benefitted from the scheme, with top sectors being technology, life and health sciences and manufacturing. 85% of investments have gone to companies outside of London, including 37% of investments to companies in Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland.

Commenting on the news Jenny Tooth OBE, CEO of UKBAA says:

“We are extremely pleased that following our extensive lobbying to the Chancellor, HMT and BEIS, Rishi Sunak will announce in his Budget on Wednesday , significant further funding  of £150m allocated to the British Business Bank to substantially expand the £100m Regional Angels Programme. This will enable many more innovation  growth focused early stage entrepreneurs in the regions outside the Golden triangle to benefit from the funding they need to achieve their growth ambitions.

We have been delighted to see that many of our established experienced Angel Groups and Funds have already been able to attract co-investment funds  through the RAP to extend their level of investment into regional based entrepreneurs with over 200 regional businesses receiving investment.  However,  a significant proportion of Angel groups across the UK lack the required track record and experience to access funds from RAP to build their investment capacity. We therefore hope that BBB will review the operation and parameters of the scheme to ensure that this new additional funding will be accessible to many more Angel investment groups in our regions, as well as those being developed by women investors and other diverse players. This will enable these important additional funds available through the Regional Angel Programme to play a key role in levelling up angel investment capacity to back many more great entrepreneurs here in the UK”.