London venture capital firm receives £40m commitment from investments company

A London investments company has announced a commitment of up to £40m to a venture capital firm.

Columbia Lake Partners has received the funding from British Business Investments, which will help it to support investments in a range of tech-enabled businesses across sectors.

This is the second funding round that the venture capital firm has held.

With Fund I, Columbia Lake Partners invested into 26 UK technology start-ups, out of 46 companies across Europe.

Craig Netterfield, managing partner of Columbia Lake Partners, commented: “We are proud of the strong track-record we have built with Fund I.

“With Fund II we will continue to support start-ups to scale-up in the UK and across Europe.

“As a less-dilutive complement to equity funding our capital gives companies the extra cash runway they need to reach certain milestones.

“In the current economic climate, our capital can be particularly valuable.

“Companies typically don’t want to be fundraising when there is uncertainty in the market, and we are providing founders and companies with enough cash runway to weather this period and build further value in the business.”

Catherine Lewis La Torre, CEO of British Business Investments,added: “As the commercial investment arm of the British Business Bank, we actively seek to increase diversity and choice of debt and equity funding available to high potential companies across the UK.

“The availability and use of venture debt is another indicator of the increasing maturity of our technology ecosystem.

“Columbia Lake’s latest fund will provide UK technology companies with an alternative and flexible source of capital at a time when periods between equity funding rounds are likely to be significantly extended as a result of the Covid-19 crisis.”