UK Pension Giants Aim to Launch £1B Fund to Invest in British Tech Sector

The U.K.’s largest pension providers are looking to launch a “scale-up fund” to invest £1 billion ($1.3 billion) in high-growth British technology firms as part of the U.K. Treasury’s initiative to encourage its pension funds to invest more in domestic businesses.

The pension providers making up the consortium, which hold hundreds of billions of pounds in assets under management, include Railway Pension Investments, Nest, Local Pensions Partnership Investments, the Local Government Pension Scheme and the Border to Coast Pension Scheme.

“The U.K. Scale-up Fund represents a compelling investment opportunity where disciplined, patient capital can help growing companies scale, provide attractive returns for pension savers and generate lasting economic growth,” Railpen CEO Andy Bord said in a statement.

The fund would seek to provide strong long-term returns for pension providers, while also supporting businesses to grow and commercialize new technologies. The Treasury stated that the fund would help “connect institutional capital with the companies, founders and venture managers driving the next wave of British innovation.” The government agency added that the intended purpose is also to drive creation of skilled jobs and support economic growth.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham called the proposed fund “a vote of confidence in British business, British talent and British ambition,” adding that it would connect pension investors with “the entrepreneurs and technologies that will re-industrialize Britain and create the jobs of the future.”

The British Business Bank, the U.K. government’s development bank, is also working with the pension providers to support the fund’s launch , as is the government’s Office for Investment.