Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II
British Business Bank-managed £660m fund-of-funds providing loans and equity to businesses across northern England.
Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II passed its two-year mark on 12 May 2026 having deployed £275m across 449 deals. The British Business Bank proposed a separate £150m scale-up fund for the North on 7 September, not an expansion of NPIF II.
Last refreshed: 22 September 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
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Timeline for Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II
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UK Startups and Innovation: NPIF II hits £275m across 449 Northern dealsBackground
Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II is the second iteration of a fund the British Business Bank has run for the North of England since 2017, structured as a fund-of-funds with the Bank overseeing regional managers including Mercia and Maven alongside a dedicated microfinance vehicle. It lends and invests directly into businesses across Greater Manchester, Yorkshire, Tees Valley, Merseyside, Cumbria and the wider North, on behalf of the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
A newly proposed British Business Bank equity fund, up to £150m and aimed at scale-ups taking £5m to £15m tickets, would sit above NPIF II's own range of £25,000 to £2m loans and equity up to £5m. No source ties the two funds beyond their shared manager; as of 7 September 2026 the Bank had named no manager, close date or selection criteria for the proposed fund, so it remains a separate, unconfirmed vehicle rather than an extension of NPIF II.
NPIF II reaches its two-year mark
Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II marked two years of deployment on 12 May 2026, reporting £275m committed across 449 deals against a total fund size of £660m, putting it 42% deployed at the midpoint.
Of that £275m, £151.3m came directly from the British Business Bank and £122.6m from private co-investors, an 81p-per-public-pound private-capital ratio typical of lending into markets where private capital is structurally thin. Its £25,000 to £2m loans and up-to-£5m equity tickets reach a tier of Northern business that the British Business Bank's own, larger direct cheques bypass.