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British Business Bank makes £50 million cornerstone commitment to Epidarex Capital

Press release 20 January 2026

The British Business Bank has made a £50 million cornerstone commitment to Epidarex Capital’s next fund. This commitment follows the Bank’s prior cornerstone investment to Epidarex Capital III UK, LP in 2020, where it committed £50 million to a £102 million fund through its Enterprise Capital Funds Programme.

Epidarex is an early-stage life sciences investor headquartered in Edinburgh, with an office in the U.S. The firm invests in high-growth life science companies, often partnering with leading medical universities and research institutions. Epidarex provides Seed and Series A funding to transform innovative science into the next generation of drugs and medical devices.

The British Business Bank is the largest investor in UK venture and venture growth capital funds and regularly makes cornerstone commitments to funds. These commitments help a fund to achieve a first close and pave the way for other investors to go into the fund, helping to mobilise private sector capital.

This commitment shows the Bank’s continued support for the UK’s thriving spinout ecosystem. Between 2022-2024 almost a quarter (24%) of university spinout deals were supported by the Bank, demonstrating its significant role in supporting the commercialisation of cutting-edge scientific research.

Epidarex continues to specialise in company creation and early-stage investing in therapeutics and medical devices, including building companies across the UK’s established and emerging research hubs, as well as incubating innovations in-house, Epidarex focuses on addressing major unmet disease needs, including in oncology, inflammation, cardiometabolic and neuroscience.

Christine Hockley, Managing Director and Co-Head of Funds, British Business Bank, said,

We are investing more into UK life sciences, which is one of the eight growth sectors of the UK Industrial Strategy. The Bank is highly active in the sector, having already committed over half a billion into specialist life science funds. However, we will continue to back fund strategies like Epidarex. The UK has a very strong science and research base, so what is needed is investors who specialise in nurturing and scaling those ideas, creating new, IP-rich companies.

Mark Andrews, Investment Director, Funds, British Business Bank, said,

We’re pleased to back yet another leading life science fund. While we have historically focused on growth stage funds, we must keep the pipeline strong by funding earlier stage companies. Our work with Epidarex will therefore support our later stage strategies in the sector

Sinclair Dunlop, General Partner and co-Founder, Epidarex Capital, said,

We are delighted to be continuing our longstanding partnership with the British Business Bank to seed and build another wave of the most promising life science companies based on breakthrough science from across all parts of the UK. We are excited to continue supporting the UK’s top entrepreneurs and scientific founders in unlocking new therapeutic possibilities for patients, by accessing capital from an experienced, early-stage, manager

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 £23bn 1  of finance to almost 64,000 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 above transaction is operated by British Patient Capital Limited, a wholly owned commercial subsidiary of British Business Bank plc.

British Patient Capital Limited is registered in England and Wales with company number 11271076, and registered office at Steel City House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 2GQ. British Patient Capital makes commitments and invests on its own behalf and on behalf of third-party investors whose investments British Patient Capital manages.

The transaction 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 Epidarex Capital or its products or services.

About Epidarex Capital 

Epidarex Capital invests in early-stage, high-growth life science companies. Epidarex focuses on providing risk capital and expertise to create, support and build young companies, including spinouts, from leading research institutions in both established and emerging life science hubs. The fund’s international management team has a track record of successfully partnering with top scientists and entrepreneurs to develop highly innovative products for the global healthcare market.

epidarex.com

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