Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to encourage more UK-based late-stage investment in (a) semiconductor manufacturing and (b) other deep technology.

The Government recognises the importance of scale-up finance for breakthrough technology firms. Since launch in 2018, British Patient Capital (BPC) has committed more than £1.6bn into innovative later stage firms, with a further £9.1bn invested alongside it by private investors.

Future Fund: Breakthrough, launched by BPC in 2021, is a £375m programme enabling direct co-investment into promising later stage R&D-intensive UK businesses. The programme has made twelve investments totalling over £80m, including six investments into deeptech companies, making BPC the UK’s most active late-stage investor in deeptech in rounds above £30m. BPC recently invested £10m in Cambridge-based manufacturer PragmatIC Semiconductor.