BBB’s Future Fund publishes unexpectedly ‘rosy’ diversity data

Today the British Business Bank published Future Fund data that gives a detailed picture of the 252 companies that have been approved for £236.2m worth of Convertible Loan Agreements since the scheme was launched on 20th May 2020. There have been 623 applications in total in the first month of operation with unexpectedly ‘rosy’ diversity data that does not match the sector’s statistics, namely that 80% of management teams are mixed gender and that 50% of management teams declared mixed ethnicity.

Applicants were asked to submit data on the gender and ethnicity of their ‘senior management team’ – which could mean that these figures refer to founders and other members of their C-suite or even the board. A move that that could make the positive statistics look a little less positive, and the negative statistics look a little less negative! Critics have argued that the term “management teams” does not mean “leadership teams” where female and BAME representation is typically weak. Priya Guha, Venture Partner Merian Ventures and a Member of the InnovateUK Council, suggested on Twitter that the British Business Bank should “share diversity ref(erencing) company leadership stats though as management team data could be misleading.” A sentiment echoed by Tech Entrepreneur, Emma Sinclair MBE.

Highlights of the Future Fund diversity data

• £236.2m worth of convertible loans approved for 252 companies
• 45% of funding to companies outside London worth £106m
• Almost 80% of management teams are mixed gender
• 50% of management teams are mixed ethnicity

The Government has said it will keep the size of the scheme under review and consider increasing it if needed. This data shows where companies are based across the UK and the composition of the management teams by gender and ethnicity. This data is self-reported by the companies applying to the Future Fund.

Data by region

The data reveals, almost half (45%) of funding approved to companies for convertible loan agreements worth £106m have their headquarters located outside of London. Of the total amount of £236.2m, 22% is to companies headquartered in the South (South East and South West), 11% in the North (North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber), 6% in the East of England, 3% in the Midlands (East Midlands and West Midlands) and 3% in the Devolved Nations –(Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). London accounts for 55% of companies, in-line with the wider market trends for equity investments. The British Business Bank’s 2019/20 Small Business Finance Markets report showed that London received 66% of equity investment by value in 2019.

Data by gender mix of management team

Of the 252 companies that have been approved and received their Convertible Loan Agreements for signature, 79% of funding is to companies with mixed gender management teams. Since the launch of the Future Fund more than 30 venture capital firms and angel groups have become signatories to the Government’s Investing in Women Code, alongside the Future Fund.

Data by ethnicity mix of management team

BAME only and mixed ethnicity management teams account for 56% of funding to companies that have been approved for Convertible Loan Agreements so far, worth £118.5m.

Keith Morgan, CEO, British Business Bank said: “The Future Fund plays an important role in providing funding for innovative businesses across the UK that are unable to access other forms of funding. While the scheme was not set up to address wider well-known structural issues in the UK’s equity finance market for smaller businesses, I’m delighted to see this early evidence of the diversity in the management teams of the Future Fund companies. I am also extremely pleased to see so many venture capital firms and angel groups have become signatories to the Investing in Women Code, alongside the Future Fund.”

Future Fund

The Future Fund will support the UK’s innovative businesses currently affected by Covid-19. These businesses have been unable to access other government business support programmes, such as CBILS, because they are either pre-revenue or pre-profit and typically rely on equity investment. The scheme will deliver an initial commitment of £250m of new government funding through convertible loan notes which will be unlocked by private investment on a match funded basis. The government scheme, which will be developed in partnership with the British Business Bank with the intention of launching for applications in May, will initially be open until the end of September.

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 make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity. 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 programmes are supporting more than £7.2bn of finance to over 93,000 smaller businesses (as at end of September 2019).

As well as increasing both supply and diversity of finance for UK smaller businesses through its programmes, the Bank works to raise awareness of the finance options available to smaller businesses:

The Business Finance Guide (published in partnership with the ICAEW and a further 21 business and finance organisations) impartially sets out the range of finance options available to businesses at all stages – from start-ups to SMEs and growing mid-sized companies. Businesses can take the interactive journey at thebusinessfinanceguide.co.uk.

The new British Business Bank Finance Hub provides independent and impartial information to high-growth businesses about their finance options, featuring short films, expert guides, checklists and articles from finance providers to help make their application a success. The new site also features case studies and learnings from real businesses to guide businesses through the process of applying for growth finance.

As the holding company of the group operating under the trading name of British Business Bank, British Business Bank plc is wholly owned by HM government and is not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The British Business Bank operates under its own brand name through a number of subsidiaries, none of which are authorised and regulated by the FCA.

British Business Bank plc and its principal operating subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found on the British Business Bank plc website.