United Kingdom, experimentation
British Patient Capital, a public venture-capital catalyst
The British Business Bank reported that government-owned British Patient Capital had committed £2.287 billion through 80 fund commitments, 10 co-investments and 18 Future Fund deals by 31 March 2024, with an underlying portfolio of 1,350 companies.
2,287,000,000 GBP, british patient capital commitments since inception, 2024-03-31. 1,350 companies, underlying portfolio companies, 2024-03-31. British Business Bank, British Patient Capital 2023–24 full-year results, retrieved 2026-08-31.
The move, and what it needed
The UK used a public, long-horizon investment platform to anchor private funds, make selected co-investments and keep capital flowing into innovative companies that can be underserved by shorter-horizon finance. A fund-manager network spreads sourcing and specialist judgement beyond the state balance sheet.
Preconditions
- A public investment institution with a mandate, capital and governance that can tolerate long time horizons
- Private fund managers and co-investors able to select, price and support high-growth firms
- A pipeline of investable companies and follow-on capital so an anchor commitment can compound rather than stand alone
Where else it has been used: Public venture catalysts travel when they crowd in capable private managers and preserve commercial decision-making; a state fund without deal flow, follow-on finance or disciplined governance can become a subsidy ledger rather than a capital market.
Limits: Commitments, assets and portfolio-company counts are administrative programme totals, not venture capital as a share of GDP, additionality, exits, jobs or causal economic impact. The portfolio includes third-party fund capital and co-investments, and the figures are reported by the government-owned delivery institution rather than independently evaluating what would have happened without it.
This record describes what United Kingdom delivered. It is linked to Venture deals because no comparable dataset measures that capability. It does not affect the score or confidence.
More from United Kingdom
11 other deliveries from this country.
Sure Start children's centres, and their erosion
England built a national network of early-childhood centres reaching 3,632 sites by August 2009, then closed or hollowed out a large part of it after funding was cut, with the official count at 3,123 by October 2017 and independent estimates near 1,000 closures.
The United Kingdom's financial regulator built the first regulatory sandbox in 2016, and by the end of 2022 had accepted 168 firms and products to test with real customers under supervision.
Legally binding carbon budgets
The United Kingdom's 2008 Climate Change Act made five-year emissions budgets a standing legal cycle set twelve years ahead, and by July 2026 seven budgets covered 2008 through 2042 while the first three had been met.
Knowledge Transfer Partnerships
UKRI reported more than 1,000 Knowledge Transfer Partnerships running at one time and more than 1,100 Associate projects in May 2026, joining businesses with universities or other research organisations through jointly supervised innovation work.
ICURe, from university research to spinouts
UK Research and Innovation's ICURe impact report says spinout companies from the programme secured £326 million in investment funding and created more than 1,400 jobs from 2014 onward, after research teams were trained and funded to test markets before deciding whether to spin out.
High Speed Two, and the cancellation of Phase 2
The Department for Transport and HS2 Ltd began building High Speed Two in 2020. The government cancelled everything beyond Birmingham in 2023. By May 2026 the London to Birmingham railway alone was estimated at £87.7 billion to £102.7 billion, more than double the 2020 Phase 1 estimate, with services from Old Oak Common expected between 2036 and 2039 against a 2012 plan to complete the full network by 2033.
The Department for Transport and Transport for London built Crossrail through Crossrail Ltd from 2009. The NAO put its forecast cost at 28% above the 2010 budget of £14.8 billion and its opening at up to three and a half years past the original December 2018 date. The central section opened in 2022 and carried 257.4 million journeys between April 2025 and March 2026.
COVID-19 Vaccine Taskforce and national vaccination rollout
The UK government set up the Vaccine Taskforce in April 2020, became the first country to authorise a COVID-19 vaccine and begin vaccination in December 2020, and by the end of October 2021 the NHS in England had given two doses to 85% of adults.
Government-funded adult further education in England, and its erosion
Participation of adults aged 19 and over in government-funded further education and skills in England fell from a recent peak of nearly 3.3 million learners in 2012/13 to 1.6 million in 2020/21, and stood at 1,798,970 in 2024/25, according to the Department for Education.
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
The UK's Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, which started in March 2020, had 8.9 million jobs on furlough at its peak on 8 May 2020 and supported 11.7 million jobs from 1.3 million employers before it closed on 30 September 2021.
Private Finance Initiative and PF2, and their abolition
HM Treasury's Private Finance Initiative signed on average 55 contracts a year between 1997 and 2010 and left 704 current PFI and PF2 projects with a capital value of £57 billion at 31 March 2018, after signings fell to an average of nine a year after May 2010 and the Chancellor announced at Budget 2018 that the government would no longer use PF2 for new projects.
The same indicator elsewhere
2 deliveries linked to Venture deals in other countries.
Yozma, the venture capital catalyst
Israel put 100 million dollars of public money into ten hybrid venture funds from 1993, with foreign partners and a buy-out option, and by 2002 the country had 131 venture funds with around 10 billion dollars under management.
Portugal Ventures, a public venture-capital bridge
Portugal Ventures, the public venture-capital company in the Banco Português de Fomento group, reports €233.2 million invested in 256 new companies since 2012 and €283 million under management.