The British Business Bank, the UK government’s economic development bank, has agreed to commit £60m to Advent Life Sciences Fund IV and committed £75m to Advent Life Sciences Growth Fund, bringing its total commitment across these two strategies to £135m (US$179m). Together, these investments will help create deeper pools of capital for the UK’s high-potential life sciences companies, supporting companies from early-stage development through to later-stage growth and commercialisation.
“We are increasing the scale of our investments into sectors where the UK has a genuine international strategic advantage, and life sciences is top of that list,” said Leandros Kalisperas, CIO of the British Business Bank. “By writing larger cheques to leading specialist managers, we ensure the UK’s best companies access the domestic capital they need to scale and build the UK’s ever-growing life sciences ecosystem.”
The bank has been a close partner of Advent since 2019 having made a commitment to Advent Life Sciences Fund III. Since then, the Bank has co-invested alongside Advent into innovative life sciences companies such as Proximie in 2022 and Cyted Health in 2025.
Advent Life Sciences is a transatlantic venture capital firm focused on life sciences businesses across the UK, Europe and the US. The firm specialises in early and mid-stage companies developing new medicines, medical technologies and enabling platforms.
“Advent is one of the leading investors in UK life sciences,” said Mark Andrews, senior director, Life Sciences, at the British Business Bank. “The reality is that life science companies in the UK remain undercapitalised relative to their potential. By putting more capital behind specialist investors like Advent, we help the UK’s most promising life sciences companies turn world-class science into new treatments.”
Advent Life Sciences Fund IV will support the development of early-stage companies developing products addressing significant clinical needs across the full breadth of the healthcare and life sciences sector.
Advent Life Sciences Growth Fund will focus mainly on the UK market, supporting companies progressing through clinical development as well as the commercial scale-up of non-therapeutic assets with initial market traction.
