Phoenix Court Partners With NatWest and British Business Bank to Scale UK Tech 

Leading UK venture capital firm Phoenix Court has secured a multi-party institutional partnership with NatWest Group and the state-backed British Business Bank (BBB), creating a large domestic capital pool aimed at scaling British innovation and unlocking capital for overlooked founders.

Under the terms of the deal, the British Business Bank has committed £50 million to Phoenix Court. NatWest Group joined alongside existing heavyweight pension and insurance backers M&G and HSBC, stretching the capital pool into hundreds of millions of pounds. While the state bank’s allocation is public, the specific financial terms of NatWest’s commitment remain undisclosed.

Significantly, the transaction marks the first time that NatWest Group has made a direct limited partner (LP) investment into an independently managed venture capital fund.

The capital will be deployed across Phoenix Court’s core multi-stage investment strategies: its seed-stage vehicle LocalGlobe, its early-growth fund Latitude, and its long-term scale-up vehicle, Solar.

For the UK’s African diaspora tech ecosystem, this move represents a systemic shift. Underrepresented and diverse founders have historically faced structural barriers, including thinner social capital networks and an acute trust gap when seeking venture capital networks. The partnership establishes accessible routes to domestic capital for founders who are starting and staying in Britain.

The intervention targets a severe domestic funding deficit. According to data provided by Phoenix Court, fewer than 1% of UK companies generating over $20 million in annual revenue are backed by domestic institutional money. Furthermore, a staggering 83% of all UK scale-up capital originates from overseas, leaving British companies highly vulnerable to international macroeconomic shifts and causing downstream economic value to leak abroad.

Phoenix Court aims to replicate the success of its Solar pilot portfolio, which served as a three-year proof of concept for domestic tech investment. The 18 companies backed under the Solar pilot now collectively generate £5 billion in annual revenue and have created more than 8,500 jobs in the UK alone. The companies include Monzo, Tide, Motorway, Raspberry Pi, CuspAI, and Moove. Additionally, Phoenix Court’s LocalGlobe has equally identified and backed era-defining tech success stories at their earliest stages, including Wise (formerly TransferWise), Zoopla, and Figma.

Saul Klein, Co-Founder and Chair of Phoenix Court, called the institutional backing a vital step forward for the continent’s largest tech hub. “Britain has built the world’s third‑largest innovation economy, but too many companies still lack the domestic capital to scale here,” Klein said. “This meaningful partnership with British financial institutions will help us back more exceptional companies from seed to scale, keeping more of the jobs, prosperity, and returns they create in Britain.”

The deal underscores a broader push across the UK to unlock institutional cash for high-growth sectors. NatWest Group CEO Paul Thwaite noted that the bank is intentionally using its scale to fix the domestic scale-up leak. “Too often, promising British businesses look overseas for the capital and support they need to reach the next stage,” Thwaite stated. “Our investment in Phoenix Court’s platform is a good example of how NatWest can use its scale, capital, and convening power to strengthen the UK’s innovation ecosystem.”

Leandros Kalisperas, Chief Investment Officer at the British Business Bank, echoed the sentiment, adding: “Increasing the flow of domestic long‑term capital will allow companies to grow faster, keeping jobs and growth here rather than trickling overseas.”

“That is good for founders, good for the economy, and good for UK investors, who should be able to share more directly in the value created by British innovation,” Alex Seddon, Head of Private Equity at M&G Investments, said.