745 companies receive almost £800m through the future fund
745 companies have been approved for £770.8m worth of convertible loan agreements under the future fund since the scheme was launched on 20 May, the British Business Bank has revealed.
This is up from the £588.3m being deployed through 590 convertible loans up to 16 August.
The scheme, which provides innovative businesses with convertible loans ranging from £125,000 to £5m from the government, subject to at least equal match funding from private investors, has received 1,243 applications in total since its launch and carries an approval rating of 59.9 per cent.
This is down from 65 per cent of firms applying for the fund gaining approval for government funding up to 16 August.
Read more: P2P lenders give the future fund a positive review
The British Business Bank also revealed data on the diversity of the future fund in terms of the location of the firms taking part and the gender and ethnicity of their staff.
42 per cent of funding for convertible loan agreements, worth £320.6m, has been given to companies with their headquarters located outside of London.
16 per cent of the total funds went to companies headquartered in the South East and South West and 11 per cent in the North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber.
Eight per cent in the East of England, three per cent in the Midlands and two per cent in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
London accounts for 58 per cent of companies, in-line with the British Business Bank’s 2019/20 Small Business Finance Markets report which showed that the capital received 66 per cent of equity investment by value in 2019.
81 per cent of funding is to companies with mixed gender senior management teams.
Black, Asian and minority ethnic only and mixed ethnicity management teams account for 65 per cent of funding to companies that have been approved for convertible loan agreements so far, worth £459.2m.
Several peer-to-peer lending platforms have been utilising the future fund.
JustUs is aiming to raise £1.2m through the scheme to develop and improve the platform’s technology and hire new staff, after failing to secure a loan under the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme.
Propio has raised £278,000 in total from its funding round and the government’s future fund to prepare for its delayed launch into P2P lending this Autumn.
And Assetz Capital has raised £1.5m through a Seedrs funding round and the government’s future fund, in order to scale.