The FSE Group
UK fund manager appointed by the British Business Bank to run regional investment funds.
The FSE Group, the British Business Bank's regional fund manager, co-led Exeter spinout Neuronostics' £3m raise for its digital epilepsy biomarker on 30 June 2026, blending its own regional capital with a £400,000 Innovate UK grant.
Last refreshed: 31 July 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
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Founded in 2002, The FSE Group provides market-gap funding to high-growth UK businesses and is an appointed fund manager for several British Business Bank regional programmes, including the South West Investment Fund, the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Investment Fund and the Investment Fund for Scotland. It writes loans and equity of £100,000 to £5m, positioning itself between grant funding and mainstream venture capital for companies too small or early for most commercial investors.
Its role as a delivery partner for multiple regional BBB programmes makes it one of the more active state-linked fund managers operating outside London, typically co-investing alongside specialist private funds and grant schemes rather than leading rounds alone.
FSE blends grants with regional capital
The FSE Group co-led Exeter University spinout Neuronostics' £3m round for BioEP, a digital epilepsy biomarker, alongside Empirical Ventures and a blended £400,000 Innovate UK Investor Partnerships grant, announced 30 June 2026 . A month earlier it had co-invested in Bristol mycelium-materials firm Mykor's £4m round alongside the Clean Growth Fund and Green Angel Ventures .
Both deals sit in the sub-£5m early-stage tier that national trackers show contracting sharply, and both pair FSE's own regional-fund capital with a specialist co-lead and a government grant, the pattern the British Business Bank increasingly relies on to keep small deeptech and life-sciences spinouts funded as retail angel capital thins.
