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British Business Investments commits up to £10 million to Haatch Ventures

Press release 01 September 2022

British Business Investments, a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, today announces a commitment of up to £10 million to Haatch Ventures (Haatch) through the Regional Angels Programme.

Haatch, headquartered in Stamford, Lincolnshire, is an early-stage investor and is led by founders Fred Soneya and Scott Weavers-Wright OBE, who have both founded and exited businesses themselves and have invested into more than 50 start-ups.

The commitment will allow Haatch to invest in high-growth digital and tech-enabled businesses across the UK. Haatch will invest in early-stage companies through its SEIS Fund and will provide follow-on capital to support high-performing companies through to Series A from its EIS and Follow-On EIS Funds.

Since Haatch was founded in 2013, it has invested in more than 50 early-stage digital transformation companies which are currently valued at over £400 million.

By investing alongside Haatch’s SEIS, EIS and follow-on funds, this commitment from British Business Investments will facilitate additional early-stage investment to smaller businesses across the UK. The Regional Angels Programme plays a vital role in developing the early-stage funding eco-system across the UK regions and nations, bringing together patient capital, business experience and skills to support the growth of high-growth smaller businesses. Judith Hartley CEO, British Business Investments
We are thrilled to be working with British Business Investments and to have their support. Their commitment enhances our financial offering to our portfolio companies and recognises the critical impact that entrepreneurs have on our economic future. Our clear focus on digital transformation businesses has meant that we have been able to capitalise on the adoption of digitisation faced by consumers and enterprises at a pace that has accelerated over the last few years. Fred Soneya Partner & Co-founder, Haatch

For more information contact:

Jessica Fox, Head of Marketing & Investor Relations, Haatch – [email protected]

Further Information

Notes to editors

About British Business Investments

British Business Investments is the trading name of British Business Investments Ltd, a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of British Business Bank plc, the UK government’s economic development bank. It forms part of the British Business Bank’s commercial arm.

British Business Investments aims to earn a commercial return by investing – through finance providers – in smaller businesses and small mid-caps, pursuing investments on a fully commercial basis without receiving any economic advantage from the government. Find out more at bbinv.co.uk.

British Business Bank plc and its subsidiary entities are not banking institutions and do not operate as such.  They are not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found on the British Business Bank plc website.

The funding from British Business Investments to Haatch Ventures does not amount to any endorsement or warranty from British Business Investments, the British Business Bank plc, or the government of the UK.

About Haatch Ventures

Founded by Scott Weavers-Wright and Fred Soneya in September 2013 as an angel co-investment joint venture under the “Haatch Angel” brand, Haatch is an early-stage investment business backing growth-focused digital companies at MVP, Pre-seed, Seed, Series A stages and beyond. Haatch Ventures launched in 2018 with the Haatch EIS Fund. In 2021 Haatch launched the Haatch SEIS and Haatch Follow On Fund.

Digital is a key growth driver across many industries. Haatch is, therefore, able to remain broad in sectors yet focused on the most transformative businesses. This provides Investors with access to what Haatch deems an extremely exciting early-stage and scale-up investment portfolio.

Haatch now has a portfolio of 54 companies, into which they have made 82 investments. The portfolio is now valued at over £400 million. The four partners of Haatch are all entrepreneurs in their own right, and between them have over $200 million in exits.

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