Following a partnership with Coutts, the private banking arm of NatWest, capital investor the Business Growth Fund (BGF) has doubled its funding into the UK Enterprise Fund (UKEF).

UKEF launched last year with £40 million of capital and the second funding round has brought it to £80 million. The fund invests capital into scaleup businesses headquartered in the UK, with the aim of providing long-term funding to support growth.

A key aim of UKEF is to provide funding to address equity gaps across the entrepreneurial ecosystem, with 22 per cent of the first tranche of fundraising going towards women-owned businesses – in contrast to the industry standard of just one per cent.

BGF takes a minority shareholding in each of the companies it backs.

To date, UKEF has exposure in 47 BGF-backed businesses, including children’s clothing e-commerce platform Character.com and Enhanc3d Genomics, a human genome mapping business.

“By its nature, UKEF is an innovative and highly differentiated offering in equity investing,” said Andy Gregory, chief executive of BGF.

He added: “Through UKEF, Coutts’ clients are able to increase their exposure in privately held UK companies, whilst benefiting from the due diligence, robust governance and skilled investment expertise that comes with the BGF platform.”

Share Story: