Future Fund

The Future Fund was a UK government scheme announced on 20 April 2020 and opened on 20 May 2020 to support innovative, pre-profit companies whose fundraising had been disrupted by the pandemic. Delivered by the British Business Bank on behalf of HM Treasury and BEIS, it provided convertible loans of £125,000 to £5m that had to be at least matched by private investors, converting into equity at the next qualifying round. Applications were led by the lead investor and the deadline was extended to 23:59 on 31 January 2021, when the scheme closed; the last loans were issued in June 2021. In total 1,190 companies received £1.14bn of convertible loans. The British Business Bank continued to publish lists of companies in which the loans had converted to equity stakes, which exceeded 700 by 2024.

Scheme closed as planned; the British Business Bank manages the legacy portfolio of converted equity stakes and outstanding loans on behalf of the Treasury.