Sheffield-based British Business Bank, the UK government’s economic development bank, said on Monday it has agreed a $100 million cornerstone commitment to SV Health Investors’ new flagship fund, SV8 Biotech Fund LP, a multi-stage therapeutics-dedicated fund.
This $100 million, the bank’s largest fund commitment to date, brings its total fund commitments to life sciences above half a billion pounds, with £560 million committed across 15 life science funds.
“These fund commitments have collectively leveraged £3.04 billion from private sector investors, bringing in six pounds for every one pound invested,” said the British Business Bank.
“The commitment supports the UK’s Life Sciences Sector Plan and is the latest in the British Business Bank’s ongoing work to back the UK’s high-growth, high-potential life sciences companies.
“The British Business Bank is the largest investor in UK venture and venture growth capital funds and regularly makes cornerstone commitments to funds that fit its strategy.
“By providing cornerstone commitments, the Bank enables a fund to achieve a first close and helps the fund to execute their planned strategy more effectively and often to a greater scale.
“SV is a leading transatlantic life sciences specialist fund manager with a 30-year track record of consistently deploying capital into the UK’s growing life science companies, including high profile biotech companies such as EyeBio and Draig Therapeutics, Alchemab and Pulmocide.
“To date SV investments have resulted in the launch of 30 novel drugs and six new drug classes able to treat indications with unmet medical needs and deliver positive impact to patients. SV funds attract investment from pension funds, asset managers, family offices, charities, sovereign wealth funds and several of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies.”
The British Business Bank has a long-standing relationship with SV going back 10 years. SV’s biotech investment team manages a portfolio of specialist life sciences funds, including four that have received meaningful commitments from the bank.
This includes commitments to SV’s two Biotech funds — the SV7 Impact Medicine Fund (SV7 IMF) in 2019 and SV Biotech Crossover Opportunities Fund (BCOF) in 2021 — as well as SV’s two Dementia-focused funds; the inaugural Dementia Discovery Fund (DDF1) in 2015 and Dementia Discovery Fund 2 (DDF 2) in 2025.
Leandros Kalisperas, Chief Investment Officer at the British Business Bank, said: “This deal is good news for UK life sciences and, as the British Business Bank’s largest fund commitment to date, it demonstrates our commitment to the sector. The UK’s highest performing companies are in need of greater funding, especially at the growth stage, and we are ramping up our investment activity to meet this demand.
“All of our investments are designed to mobilise institutional capital, both domestic and international, into UK venture capital. Our cornerstone commitments and the collaboration we provide in fund formation act as a pathfinder for other investors to go into the fund. Meeting the Bank’s investment criteria and passing due diligence acts as a positive signal that the fund, its team, and strategy are of high quality, with the intention this draws in other investors.”
Mark Andrews, Investment Director, Funds, Life Sciences, British Business Bank, said: “The Bank has successfully boosted funding for UK life sciences but there remains a strong pipeline of innovative companies that need scale up capital. This commitment reaffirms our long-standing relationship with SV, whose strong track record make them one of the UK’s leading fund managers and at the heart of the UK life sciences ecosystem.”
Nikola Trbovic, Managing Partner, SV Health Investors, said: “The British Business Bank continues to be a valued partner to SV, which has a long history of investing in and transforming science into leading companies that bring positive impacts to patients. The support we have received from the Bank over the last ten years has helped enable us to fund some of the most promising UK biotech companies developing therapeutics to address significant clinical needs.”