London-based SFC Capital, a Seed-stage investor, has received an additional €11.9 million commitment from British Business Investments (BBI) through its Regional Angels Programme to fund 100 early-stage businesses across the UK.
BBI is a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, with the Regional Angels Programme designed to reduce regional imbalances in access to early-stage equity finance across the UK.
Joseph Zipfel, Chief Investment Officer, SFC Capital: “We are incredibly pleased to receive this extension and grateful to British Business Investments for their continued trust. This was made possible by the strong performance of the companies that we have invested in so far under the programme, a testament to the strength of entrepreneurial talent that we have in the UK. The Regional Angels Programme is a formidable case study of how the private and public sector can collaborate to boost the startup ecosystem nationally while providing a positive return to taxpayers.”
Founded in 2012 by serial entrepreneur Stephen Page (DataEase, Sapphire), SFC Capital combines an angel syndicate with its own funds to provide investors with diversified exposure to SEIS- and EIS-qualifying businesses. They work with the UK accelerators, university incubators and angel investors to find potential ventures at an early stage across sectors from Fintech and B2B Software to Life Sciences and ConsumerTech.
SFC expects this new commitment to fund 100 early-stage businesses across the UK, unlocking a total of €119.8 million in new funding for startup and scaleup businesses across all sectors. This new commitment follows previous commitments totalling €17.9 million initially made by the Regional Angels Programme in 2020, which SFC fully deployed across more than 150 companies.
According to SFC, their investments made to date under the Regional Angels Programme are showing promising performance, with early investments made in 2020-22 currently posting a total value to paid-in (TVPI) multiple of 2x.
SFC has also achieved several successful exits from the commitment, including Peopleforce, an HR software business which SFC exited to a leading European HR tech investor in a deal that returned 5x the original investment.
This latest commitment comes as SFC passes a key milestone, having invested in more than 500 startups across the UK since 2012 – including notable names such as Onfido, Cognism, and Transcend Packaging. SFC’s most recent investments include 4D Biomaterials, a Nottingham-based BioTech company, Neurosight, a Canterbury-based HR software company, and Careloop, a University of Manchester spinout focused on tackling severe mental illness.
Adam Kelly, Managing Director, British Business Investments, said: “Our Regional Angels Programme is designed to address imbalances in access to early-stage finance in the UK, and to increase the overall amount of capital available to smaller businesses through angel networks. Following our earlier commitments in 2020, this further commitment of £10m will allow SFC Capital to build on its track record of supporting high growth-potential businesses across the UK.”
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2025/02/sfc-capital-raises-additional-e11-9-million-to-invest-in-early-stage-ventures-across-uk/
