Recommendation 24

HM Government · verbatim extract Accepted

The government agrees with this recommendation, which is why the ‘UKRI Venture Builder’ pilot programme will go live in 2026/27 as an extension to Innovate UK’s ICURe programme. UKRI Venture Builder will support just spun-out ventures who demonstrate potential for high growth aligned to IS growth sectors, with an objective to become investible (pre-seed investors) by end of the programme. In phase 1, the pilot will focus on Frontier AI, Engineering Biology and Advanced Materials. Further support will be available to businesses as they grow and progress through stages of investment. Innovate UK set out their approach to providing an integrated end-to-end support offer in their Prospectus on the 19 March. The Velocity account management service will work with businesses, connecting them to the investment community as they become investment ready. This will be further enhanced by Innovate UK’s strengthening relationship with public finance institutions like the British Business Bank and the National Wealth Fund. Businesses will have access to a connected pipeline, with Innovate UK acting as a due diligence engine briefing investors on which businesses are ready to raise capital. We agree with the Committee on the importance of directly funnelling through the investment stages and this connected system of support will allow businesses with high potential for growth to progress from initial proof of concept support through to subsequent stages of investment.