British Business Bank has made a £25m cornerstone commitment to Antler’s UK Fund II to support ambitious founders and innovators across the UK, UKTN can exclusively reveal.
Antler partners with founders pre-launch of their companies, providing them with resources, coaching and funding, connecting them with a global network to help them grow and scale.
The VC has been present in the UK since 2020, investing at the earliest stages of company formation through its residency programme. The new UK strategy will be Antler’s largest single-location fund to date and will be led by the partner team of Adam French, Hannah Leach and Jed Rose.
The fund will back exceptional founders from inception in the UK, initially committing up to £500k into new UK startups with the potential to support its strongest performers beyond the fund at the growth rounds through its later-stage investment vehicle, Elevate.
Antler’s focus on company creation and early-stage investment in the UK aligns with the British Business Bank’s objective of strengthening the pipeline of new and investable companies.
“The UK consistently produces exceptional founders and world-leading IP, and we need to give entrepreneurs the tools to take the leap and start building the companies of the future,” says Christine Hockley, managing director and co-head of funds at British Business Bank.
“This fund is dedicated to creating UK companies and will help turn more high-potential ideas into scalable businesses.”
The Bank joins a syndicate of primarily UK LPs, including Lloyds Banking Group, demonstrating growing participation from UK institutional investors in the UK’s innovation economy.
“Our new fund is designed to support outlier founders in a new era when speed is everything,” says Adam French, partner at Antler.
“This fund is here to back the world-class founder talent in the UK. Founders can achieve more and move faster than ever before thanks to AI. There has never been a better time to become a founder in the UK, and we have created a fund that will help exceptional founders realise their full potential.”
