London-based VC SFC Capital, a leading seed-stage investor, has secured an additional £10 million from British Business Investments, increasing its total funding under the Regional Angels Programme to £25 million. This investment aims to support regional startups accessing early-stage equity finance across the UK.
- Founded in 2012 by Stephen Page, SFC Capital is an early-stage investment firm that provides capital and support to British startups.
- SFC Capital has backed over 500 startups, including Onfido, Cognism, and Transcend Packaging. Recent investments include 4D Biomaterials, a Nottingham-based biotech company; Neurosight, a Canterbury-based HR software company; and CareLoop, a University of Manchester spinout focused on tackling severe mental illness.
- This new commitment follows SFC’s previous investments, totalling £15 million made by the Regional Angels Programme in 2020, which SFC fully deployed across more than 150 companies.
- According to the firm, these investments have performed strongly, with those made between 2020 and 2022 showing a 2x return. A notable success was the 5x return from selling Peopleforce, an HR software company, to a leading European investor.
- SFC aims to use this new commitment to fund 100 early-stage businesses across the UK, unlocking £100 million in funding for startups and scaleups in various sectors.
- The additional £10 million commitment came from British Business Investments, a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, which works to expand the availability and variety of finance options for businesses across the UK.
“Our Regional Angels Programme is designed to address imbalances in access to early-stage finance in the UK, and to increase the overall amount of capital available to smaller businesses through angel networks. This further commitment of £10m will allow SFC Capital to build on its track record of supporting high growth-potential businesses across the UK," explains Adam Kelly, Managing Director at British Business Investments.
