• Swindon & Wiltshire Professional services
• Wednesday June 25 2025

South West has second highest percentage of British Business Bank-backed deals

The proportion of British Business Bank equity investment in South West businesses has accelerated in the last year as the Bank continues to focus on increasing access to finance for ambitious and growing small businesses.

The latest figures from the Bank’s eleventh annual Small Business Equity Tracker show that the South West had the second highest proportion of Bank-backed equity deals in England outside London, second only to the North West.

This correlates with the expansion of the Bank’s Nations and Regions Investment Funds, including the launch of the £200 million South West Investment Fund in 2023 which provides loans and equity up to £5 million.

The Small Business Equity Tracker also points to the South West being an angel investor hotspot, with South West-based angels accounting for six per cent of angel investments in the 2023/24 tax year and since, by both number of deals and deal value. This is the highest proportion of any region in England outside London and the South East.

Nationally the report points to 2024 being a challenging year for equity markets with declines in both the number and value of deals. In the South West deal volumes fell 11.5 per cent to 115 equity deals during the year, which was less than the national decline of 15.1 per cent to 2,048 deals.

Deal value is the South West also fell, by 17.2 per cent to £314 million, against a national drop of 2.5 per cent to £10.8 billion in 2024.

The proportion of Bank-backed equity deals in the region was 7.1 per cent in 2022-24, exceeding both the wider equity market (5.5 per cent) and the private equity/venture capital market (4.6 per cent) in the South West. The North West saw the highest proportion of Bank-backed equity deals outside London at 7.8 per cent.

Steve Conibear, UK network director for the South West at the British Business Bank, said: “Despite declines in the number and value of equity deals in the region and nationally, the proportion of Bank-backed deals in the South West has continued to grow and reflects the importance of the Bank’s geo-graphically focused programmes like the South West Investment Fund in increasing access to small business equity finance.

“We’re also encouraged by the strength of angel investment in the region given its importance as a significant source of equity investment in start-up and early-stage businesses.

“In the last year we have seen the launch of two further angel networks in Cornwall and North Devon, and the Bank’s Regional Angels Programme is further helping to catalyse early stage investment.”

Latest: Nearly 2,200 smaller businesses in the South West have been supported by the British Business Bank, creating thousands of new jobs.