The British Business Bank published its third annual Impact Report on Tuesday, setting out how £9.4 billion of finance channelled to smaller businesses across the UK in 2025/26 is expected to translate into jobs and growth in each nation and region.
In Scotland, the report’s activity is on track to create 1,900 new jobs and add £800 million in additional turnover, with a forecast £300 million uplift to Scottish economic output over the lifetime of the finance provided, according to figures reported by The Scotsman.
The bank newly supported 1,500 Scottish smaller businesses during the year, alongside 15,500 existing jobs at those firms.
The £150 million Investment Fund for Scotland, launched in 2023, has now deployed roughly £36.5 million across 92 investments into 83 smaller businesses, drawing in a further £33.9 million of private-sector capital and taking total investment into Scottish companies through the fund past £70 million.
Alongside the fund, the bank is opening a new £8.5 million innovation cluster for the Glasgow city region, targeting the eight priority sectors set out in the UK Industrial Strategy. Recent investees include Highway Data Systems, a Glasgow tech company automating quality assurance for road-construction projects, which raised £1.25 million in a round managed by Maven Capital Partners.
In 2025/26 the British Business Bank stepped up both the size and reach of its investments and deepened its support to strengthen the UK’s banking and alternative finance landscape for smaller businesses.
Louis Taylor, CEO, British Business Bank said, “the Bank has returned a pre-tax profit of £426m this year, a 3x increase on last year’s £144m profit. Our activities in 2025/26 are expected to produce an impact of 39,000 additional jobs and £8.8bn of gross value added over the life of the finance.
With increased capacity for new funded commitments of £2.5bn a year, alongside issuing £2.1bn annually in guarantees, we are building momentum as we continue to invest at record levels and become a more confident, visible presence across the UK’s equity and debt finance markets. This year has started strongly.”
Stephen Welton, Chair, British Business Bank, said:
“The Bank, headquartered in Sheffield, with more than half of its workforce based outside its London office, is embedded in the communities and markets it supports as a champion of smaller businesses. We are making significant progress driving impact across the Nations and regions of the UK, in the last decade delivering over £40bn of GVA and more than 250,000 additional jobs.”
“With two clear lines of business, over £25bn in financial capacity and greater flexibility, we are increasing access to finance for thousands of smaller businesses alongside supporting high growth innovative companies with equity investment. At a time when the UK must increase growth in every part of the country the role of the Bank, working closely with key partners on a local basis, is to do just that, targeting by 2030 up to 370,000 new jobs and up to £57bn of additional GVA under our Five-year Strategic Plan. These results show how the Bank is scaling up to deliver that.”
