The British Business Bank committed €65m to Highland Europe's Technology Growth Fund VI on 30 July, a vehicle above €1bn targeting companies from Series B to pre-IPO1. Highland Europe has raised €3.75bn across six funds, backed more than 80 companies and seen 30 exits. The Bank is the UK's state-owned development bank; Highland Europe is a private growth-equity firm with offices in London and Geneva, and the two have already sat on the same cap table at the data company 9fin, which Christine Hockley, who runs the Bank's commercial equity funds, cited when the commitment was announced.
The commitment is a limited-partner position, not a direct investment. The Bank does not choose which companies Highland Europe backs, does not price the rounds and does not sit on the boards. What it buys instead is a claim on a fund big enough to lead the growth rounds that British companies have historically flown to New York or Silicon Valley to raise. The trade-off is control: every pound committed this way is a pound the Bank cannot aim at a specific gap it has identified.
This is the second such position in five weeks. The Bank put £10m into Odyssey Ventures' transatlantic seed fund in July, at the opposite end of the stage range. Between a seed fund and a pre-IPO growth vehicle, the Bank now has fund-of-funds exposure across almost the whole ladder, built from commitments rather than from picks.
