The British Business Bank has committed €11 million (£10 million) to Fuel Ventures’ funds through its Regional Angels Programme. Launched in 2019, the programme aims to improve access to early-stage funding in regions where startups have traditionally found it harder to raise investment.

Fuel Ventures was founded to support ambitious technology startups. It has since grown into a multi-stage venture capital firm, with funds that support companies from the pre-Seed stage through to Series A and beyond.

Mark Barry, Senior Investment Director at the British Business Bank, said: “The Regional Angels Programme exists to close gaps in early-stage access to capital across the UK, and this commitment is a good example of that in practice. Fuel Ventures brings founder-operator experience and its offering structure means the capital we’re providing does not stop at the first round—it keeps working for founders as they grow.”

Mark Pearson, Founder and Managing Partner of Fuel Ventures, said: “We’re built by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, wherever they’re building. This backing from the British Business Bank is a strong vote of confidence in the model we’ve built at Fuel, it means we can keep standing behind the founders in our portfolio for longer and support them further as they grow.”

The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank. It was established in November 2014 to support smaller businesses by helping them access the funding they need to start, grow, and continue operating in the UK.

The bank works with the UK government to create and manage finance programmes for smaller businesses across the country. Its main programmes currently support around £23 billion in finance for nearly 64,000 smaller businesses.