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British Business Investments commits up to £40m to Columbia Lake Partners UK LLP’s second fund

Press release 04 June 2020

  • Columbia Lake Partners announces first close of Fund II

  • The Fund will provide growth capital loans to venture capital backed high growth UK and European technology start-ups

  • Columbia Lake Partners provides companies with growth capital that is less dilutive than equity financing, and more flexible than traditional bank loans

British Business Investments Ltd announces a commitment of up to £40m to Columbia Lake Partners Fund II – CLP Growth II GBP SCSp – at its first close.

Columbia Lake Partners (CLP) is a London-based venture debt fund, providing growth capital term loans of £3-10m to venture capital backed technology businesses. The investments are a complement to traditional VC funding, allowing companies to grow with less dilutive capital. The fund can invest as part of an equity round, between equity rounds to allow a company more time to build enterprise value, or to fund an acquisition.

Typically, CLP will make an initial investment into companies at the Series A or Series B stage when they have revenues, a proven go-to-market strategy, and are starting to scale.

The Fund, which has already made four investments, will invest in a wide range of tech enabled businesses across sectors such as enterprise SaaS, fintech, software infrastructure, hardware and consumer internet companies.With Fund I, Columbia Lake Partners invested into 26 UK technology start-ups, out of 46 companies across Europe.

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.

Craig Netterfield Managing Partner, Columbia Lake Partners

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 Covid19 crisis.

Catherine Lewis La Torre CEO, British Business Investments

Further Information

British Business Investments:

Columbia Lake Partners:

Notes to editors

About British Business Investments

British Business Investments is the trading name of British Business Investments Ltd, a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of British Business Bank plc, the UK government’s economic development bank. It forms part of the British Business Bank’s commercial arm.

British Business Investments aims to earn a commercial return by investing – through finance providers – in smaller businesses and small mid-caps, pursuing investments on a fully commercial basis without receiving any economic advantage from the government. Find out more at bbinv.co.uk.

British Business Bank plc and its subsidiary entities are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. Neither British Business Bank nor its principal operating subsidiaries are authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found on the British Business Bank plc website.

The funding from British Business Investments into CLP Growth II GBP SCSp does not amount to any endorsement or warranty from British Business Investments, the British Business Bank plc, or the government of the UK.

About Columbia Lake Partners

Columbia Lake Partners (CLP) is a London-based growth debt fund with a portfolio of 46 VC-backed technology companies, currently investing out of its second fund. CLP provides high-growth European startups with a less dilutive source of capital, typically investing £3-10m into software or internet-enabled businesses at the Series A+ stage. CLP has been a valuable long-term partner to both founders and their equity investors by being transparent, fast and easy to work with. Notable exits and investments include Clavis Insight (acquired by Ascential), Falcon.io (acquired by Cision), Syft (acquired by Indeed.com), Showpad and Mews Systems.

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