British Business Bank

The UK has spent years trying to fix who gets funded. The British Business Bank now went after the harder question: \nwho gets to do the funding\n\nThe British Business Bank put £90 million into 10 brand new micro funds. Every one is run by a first time fund manager. 57% are women,43% come from ethnic minority backgrounds while seven are solo GPs writing their first institutional cheques.\n\nEarly stage capital moves through networks and those networks have stayed narrow for a long time. When the same small group decides which founders look \"obvious,\" the same kinds of companies keep getting built. Swap the people writing first cheques and you change what gets seen, upstream of any founder.\n\nThe timing is also really important. AI and deeptech took roughly 63% of UK VC last year. These funds write pre seed cheques into exactly that the cheque most founders can't get without a track record or a warm intro.\n\n151 managers applied,10 made it. \nAmong them: Mustard Seed, the first Black led consumer fund in the UK and Europe. Twin Track, turning defence traction into commercial scale.\n\nNew people deciding where first money goes will back companies the old networks were never going to find.