Deep Tech · Government / Public Agency

British Business Bank (incl. British Patient Capital)

The UK's sovereign anchor for quantum scale-ups: £100M into OQC's record Series C and £40M into Quantum Motion in 2026 alone, on top of NSSIF positions across the full UK quantum stack since 2020. Never leads; anchors behind a private lead.

Active Sheffield, United KingdomFounded 2014

Investment thesis

The UK government's economic development bank (founded 2014, Sheffield, wholly owned by HM Government) and the UK's sovereign anchor for quantum scale-ups. Three demarcated vehicles: direct equity operated by British Patient Capital Ltd (commercial subsidiary, £3.125B AUM at March 2024), a fund-of-funds LP programme, and NSSIF, the government's dual-use deep tech fund delivered with DSIT.

Quantum exposure spans the full UK stack: silicon qubits (Quantum Motion, backed at every stage since NSSIF's first cheque in 2020), superconducting (OQC since Series A 2022), error correction (Riverlane), networking (Nu Quantum, Photonic) and photonics (Orca, PsiQuantum), plus cornerstone LP positions in IQ Capital Fund V (up to £50M, January 2026) and Cambridge Innovation Capital's Opportunity Fund.

The 2025 reforms transformed its role: total financial capacity rises to £25.6B from April 2026 and the Bank now writes anchor-scale direct cheques, committing £40M to Quantum Motion's $160M Series C (May 2026) and £100M to OQC's £260M Series C (June 2026), 38% of Europe's largest private quantum round.

It never leads quantum rounds; it anchors them behind a private lead, sitting inside the UK's up-to-£2B national quantum commitment (March 2026) that includes the £1B ProQure procurement programme.

Anti-thesis

The patterns that trigger a fast no with this fund.

  1. UK only by mandate (start, scale and stay in the UK): a single non-UK quantum position exists (Photonic, Canada, via NSSIF), justified by its UK footprint. Non-UK founders should not pitch
  2. Never leads: you must first secure a private lead investor who sets terms; the Bank sizes its anchor afterwards
  3. No public pitch channel for Direct Equity; access runs through your lead investor or the NSSIF pathway for dual-use companies
  4. Direct cheques target companies already at scale (Series B/C, large rounds); below that, the group reaches you through its LP funds (IQ Capital, CIC) or NSSIF seed tickets
  5. Government ownership brings process: national security relevance is screened (NSSIF), and the PRs explicitly disclaim any government endorsement

Notable quantum portfolio

Full portfolio
Quantum MotionOxford Quantum CircuitsRiverlaneNu QuantumPhotonicPsiQuantum

Frequent co-investors