Ascension secures up to £10m British Business Bank commitment to boost regional tech investment
Press release
The British Business Bank has announced a new up to £10m commitment through its Regional Angels Programme to Ascension Ventures, one of the UK and Europe’s leading Pre-Seed and Seed funds with a focus on helping high-growth technology companies scale.
The Regional Angels Programme, launched in 2019 with the objective of addressing regional imbalances in access to early-stage equity finance, targets angel networks and other early-stage investors outside of London. This commitment supports this mission, enhancing access to capital for early-stage businesses across diverse sectors and ensuring that innovative founders outside of London and the South East have access to the patient capital required to scale.
This strategic partnership will see Ascension deploy the Bank’s capital alongside its existing funds (EIS/SEIS) and its institutional impact fund, Ascension Fund III. Ascension has been one of the most active technology investors in the UK since 2015, and was 2022 Seed VC of the year (finalist in 2025) and Impact Leader runner-up at last year’s EUVC Awards.
Mark Barry, Senior Investment Director at British Business Bank, said:
We’re delighted to partner with Ascension, who have an incredible founder friendly reputation. This reputation, coupled with how they have demonstrated their commitment to invest commercially with impact across the UK, makes this an exciting commitment through our Regional Angels Programme.
Jean de Fougerolles, Managing Partner at Ascension, said:
We have long believed that talent is distributed across the UK, but opportunity is not. This up to £10m commitment from the British Business Bank allows us to double down on our mission to back exceptional founders regardless of their postcode.
Crucially, this partnership bolsters our commitment to the regions, allowing us to deploy capital alongside our other funds. It reinforces our strategy to write high-conviction cheques, providing the patient, long-term support that regional founders need to build category-defining companies.
Further Information
If you are a journalist and have a media enquiry, please contact mediaenquiries@british-business-bank.co.uk.
Notes to editors
About the British Business Bank
The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to drive sustainable growth and prosperity across the UK and to enable the transition to a net zero economy, by improving access to finance for smaller businesses. Its remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government.
The British Business Bank’s core programmes support £23bnRead footnote text 1 of finance to almost 64,000Read footnote text 2 smaller businesses.
British Business Bank plc is a public limited company registered in England and Wales, registration number 08616013, registered office at Steel City House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 2GQ. It is a development bank wholly owned by HM Government. British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. With the exception of BBB Investment Services Limited they are not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority or the Financial Conduct Authority. BBB Investment Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. A complete legal structure chart for the group can be found at british-business-bank.co.uk.
The commitment described above does not constitute or imply any endorsement, warranty or recommendation by the UK government, the British Business Bank plc, its subsidiaries or any other party in respect of Ascension or its products or services.
About Ascension
Ascension is an early-stage venture capital firm built by exited operators to back the next generation of tech and impact founders. With £100m+ in assets, Ascension is consistently ranked as one of the UK’s most active investors and has backed 150+ early-stage companies, with 15 exits.
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1
Figures as at end March 2025
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2
Figures as at end March 2025, does not include Start Up Loans
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