UK commits £150m to scale up northern startups
What's the deal? Chancellor John Healey is announcing a £150m fund to back high-growth startups across the North of England, with the money coming from the British Business Bank's existing budget. It will target university spinouts and other innovative companies from Liverpool and Manchester to Leeds, Sheffield, Hull, and Newcastle.
How will it work? The Northern scale-up fund will make larger investments of between £5m and £15m, complementing the Bank's existing Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund IIDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Regional Angels Programme. Its focus reflects regional sector strengths including creative industries, clean energy, and space and technology.
Why now? The announcement, made in a speech at a British manufacturing site on 7 September, backs Prime Minister Andy Burnham's devolution drive, which he says will deliver "growth in every postcode."
Healey is expected to frame the £150m as a lever for private capital, not charity. "This is not sentimentality, it's supply side economics," he is set to say, adding that the money will get "behind the most innovative and fast-growing firms."
The ecosystem view: The fund is part of the British Business Bank's wider regional push. The same week, the Bank launches a £210m South East Investment Fund in Brighton. In 2025/26, the Bank helped UK smaller businesses access £9.4bn of finance.
The signal: Leandros Kalisperas, the Bank's chief investment officer, said the fund is aimed at "addressing regional equity gaps" so northern businesses can "access the capital they need to grow." It marks a bet that public money, channelled through devolved city regions, can close the funding divide between the North and other parts of the UK.
Read more: sifted.eu, cityam.com, british-business-bank.co.uk, business-live.co.uk
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
