- The British Business Bank has committed £50 million to Longwall Venture Partners’ fresh £100 million fund.
- It marks British Business Bank’s fourth commitment to the firm.
- Longwall’s exits include OrganOx, which generated 19.2x return on investment when it was sold for over $1.5 billion, including for British Business Bank.
The British Business Bank has anchored Longwall Venture Partners’ latest vehicle, Longwall 4, with £50 million.
The cornerstone commitment comes via the institution’s Enterprise Capital Funds programme and marks its fourth investment into the Oxford-based deeptech investor since the firm’s inception in 2008.
It brings Longwall 4’s commitments to £86.2 million, meaning a significant portion of the £100 million target has been secured.
“The UK’s strong research base across academia and industry has created a rich seam of opportunities to turn groundbreaking science into valuable businesses but these businesses often struggle to raise long-term capital to support them on their journey to commercialisation,” says David Denny, managing partner at Longwall.
“We are excited to find the next crop of deeptech investments for our new fund.”
The fund will invest between £500,000 and £2 million into 14 to 16 early stage UK companies, with some cash kept for follow-on rounds.
Its thesis is centred around the commercialisation of science and engineering, and is specifically targeting clean energy, life sciences, and advanced manufacturing and defence companies.
Longwall’s inaugural fund backed medtech OrganOx, which sold to Terumo Corporation in 2025 for over $1.5 billion in one of the UK’s largest medtech exits. The acquisition generated a 19.2x return for investors, including the British Business Bank. The venture firm’s portfolio today spans medical devices to defence and aerospace companies.
Mark Sims, British Business Bank managing director and head of Development Equity Funds, pays homage to OrganOx and says the new commitment will “help uncover the next generation of breakthrough technologies and UK success stories.”
Business Secretary Peter Kyle described the funding as a “shot in the arm for the UK’s thriving technology sector” as the country looks to scale its academic research and deeptech expertise globally without needing to set up a headquarters elsewhere.
Longwall has no official diversity mandate but it is a signatory of the Investing in Women Code (IWC), which is designed to encourage female entrepreneurship in the UK through better access to tools, resources, and finance from the financial services sector.
