Entrepreneurs, startups, and early-stage businesses are among the most vulnerable groups that have been directly affected by the preventive measures taken by governments to control the global coronavirus pandemic.

The government of UK and leading investment firms are taking active measures to help offer financial support and assistance to British venture-backed startups and small businesses. The UK government had recently launched the Future Fund co-investment scheme to propel the growth of high-growth companies and early-stage businesses to help them sustain during the pandemic.

UK seed stage investor Startup Funding Club (SFC) recently announced it has received £10 million from British Business Investments (BBI), the wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank.

SFC reportedly plans to deploy a total of £40 million of new funding in across more than 100 startups and early-stage businesses across all sectors in the country.

The funding will apparently serve as a considerable boost for small businesses and early-stage startups across the country at a time when the funding landscape has become highly uncertain due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Future Fund scheme requires startups to already have raised at least £250,000 in private funding to become eligible for a Future Fund loan. The move from SFC will be particularly beneficial to businesses that are presently ineligible to qualify for Future Fund support.

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According to sources familiar with the matter, SFC has already completed investments worth £5 million into 28 businesses during the first quarter of this year, with BBI’s commitment accounting for £1.6 million of these investments.

Evidently, this is the second commitment to be made through BBI’s Regional Angels Program, which aims to provide greater access to funding for companies in parts of the country with insufficient early-stage capital.

For the record, SFC was founded by Stephen Page in 2012. Page is a software entrepreneur who has established and exited a number of firms. He aims to assist high-potential startups prosper and make angel investing more accessible.

Source: https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/23/uks-bbi-puts-12m-into-startup-funding-club-for-early-stage-startups/