British Business Bank backs Advent Life Sciences funds

The British Business Bank has committed up to £135 million to two Advent Life Sciences funds, taking its total commitments to life sciences funds to more than £745 million across 17 vehicles.

The package includes £60 million for Advent Life Sciences Fund IV and £75 million for Advent Life Sciences Growth Fund. The two vehicles target different stages of company development: Fund IV is aimed at early-stage businesses, while the growth fund focuses mainly on UK companies moving through clinical development or expanding commercial operations for non-therapeutic assets.

The investment builds on an existing relationship between the state-owned development bank and Advent, which began with a commitment to Advent Life Sciences Fund III. The two groups have also invested alongside each other in companies including Proximie and Cyted Health.

Advent invests across the UK, Europe and the United States, focusing on life sciences companies developing medicines, medical technology and related platforms, particularly at early and mid-stage development.

Sector funding

The latest commitment underscores the Bank's effort to direct more capital into specialist venture managers in sectors where the UK already has a strong research base. Life sciences has long been seen as one of those areas, but many companies still struggle to secure enough domestic investment to move from research into later-stage development and commercial growth.

The Bank says its commitments to life sciences funds have helped attract more than £3 billion from private investors into the sector. That reflects a broader strategy of using public money to draw institutional and other commercial backers into parts of the market where fundraising remains difficult.

Leandros Kalisperas, Chief Investment Officer at the British Business Bank, said the larger commitments reflect a focus on sectors where the UK has a strategic advantage.

"We are increasing the scale of our investments into sectors where the UK has a genuine international strategic advantage, and life sciences is top of that list. By writing larger cheques to leading specialist managers, we ensure the UK's best companies access the domestic capital they need to scale and build the UK's ever-growing life sciences ecosystem," he said.

The two Advent funds are intended to support a broad stretch of the financing path for life sciences businesses. Fund IV is designed to back companies developing products to address major clinical needs across healthcare and life sciences, while the growth fund targets businesses that need larger amounts of capital after initial scientific or commercial progress.

Policy focus

The announcement also reflects the government's wider interest in expanding sectors seen as strategically important to the UK economy. Ministers have repeatedly identified life sciences as an area where the country has academic strength, a deep pool of scientific talent and an established company base, but where scale-up finance has often lagged international peers.

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds linked the commitment to that industrial policy goal.

"Britain's incredible life sciences expertise and facilities make us among the best in the world for medicines discovery, and this £135 million backing for Advent means more of our most promising life sciences firms can scale up here, create skilled jobs across the UK, and get new treatments to patients faster. Life sciences is already a UK success story, but it has the potential to grow even further. This investment shows how we are continuing to genuinely back the companies and the sectors of the future," he said.

For the British Business Bank, the deal adds to its growing role in venture and growth capital. It says it is the largest investor in UK venture and venture growth capital funds, and in its most recent financial year it helped smaller businesses access £9.4 billion of finance through a combination of public funding, private investment raised alongside it and guaranteed lending.

Mark Andrews, Senior Director for Life Sciences at the British Business Bank, said the sector continues to face a funding gap.

"Advent is one of the leading investors in UK life sciences, so we're pleased to expand our relationship with them. The reality is that life sciences companies in the UK remain undercapitalised relative to their potential. By putting more capital behind specialist investors like Advent, we help the UK's most promising life sciences companies turn world-class science into new treatments, while growing and creating jobs here in the UK," he said.

Industry body the BioIndustry Association welcomed the size of the commitment and its spread across different stages of company growth.

"Commitments of this size and breadth are essential to give innovative UK businesses the fuel they need to start, scale, stay and serve the world from here. Through strategic backing of Britain's expert venture firms, the British Business Bank is actively expanding our funding ecosystem, accelerating the delivery of medicines to patients and value to taxpayers," said Professor Chris Molloy, Chief Executive Officer of the BioIndustry Association.