The British Business Bank has agreed to commit up to £46 million to Zinc Capital Management’s Science-for-Impact Fund, providing a cornerstone investment for the early-stage venture fund focused on UK deep tech companies addressing health and environmental challenges.
The commitment is being made through the British Business Bank’s Enterprise Capital Funds program and follows the Bank’s previous investment in Zinc II in 2022.
Zinc’s Science-for-Impact Fund is targeting a £70 million fund size and plans to build a portfolio of approximately 80 new deep tech companies.
The strategy will focus on founders developing science-led businesses across areas aligned with the U.K. government’s Industrial Strategy priorities, including advanced manufacturing, clean energy and life sciences, along with technologies spanning engineering, biology and artificial intelligence.
Zinc is an early-stage venture capital investor and venture builder that works with founders at the earliest stages of company creation, when access to institutional funding can be especially limited.
The firm’s model combines initial capital with hands-on venture-building support intended to help founders validate scientific concepts, establish commercial strategies and develop their companies into investment-ready businesses.
The new British Business Bank commitment is intended to help Zinc expand that model and support a larger number of science-led startups across the U.K.
As a cornerstone investor, the British Business Bank can help venture funds reach an initial close while providing additional validation that may support fundraising from private-sector investors.
The Bank said its broader Enterprise Capital Funds program is designed to increase the availability of equity capital for early-stage U.K. businesses with long-term growth potential while reducing barriers for venture capital managers entering or expanding within the market.
The Zinc Science-for-Impact Fund becomes the 55th Enterprise Capital Fund supported through the program.
Zinc’s existing portfolio includes companies developing technologies across medicine, healthcare and the energy transition.
Portfolio companies include SignaCor, which is developing therapeutics for heart disease; Epiome, an AI-powered biomarker platform for neurodegenerative diseases; Speek, a digital clinical care platform addressing teenage self-harm; Spine, an AI operating system for grid-scale battery asset management; and CellMine, which is developing a waste-free process for recycling lithium-ion batteries.
The fund’s investment strategy is centered on turning scientific breakthroughs into scalable companies capable of generating both commercial returns and measurable societal impact.
Zinc plans to invest from the earliest stages and work closely with management teams as they move from scientific development toward commercialization and larger institutional funding rounds.
The British Business Bank is the U.K. government’s economic development bank and is one of the largest investors in domestic venture and venture growth funds.
During the 2025/26 financial year, the Bank supported U.K. smaller businesses in accessing approximately £9.4 billion of finance, consisting of £1.3 billion in public funding, £4.3 billion of private capital attracted alongside its programs and £3.7 billion of lending supported through guarantees.
That financing benefited approximately 38,000 U.K. businesses, including around 30,000 businesses the Bank had not previously supported.
The up to £46 million commitment to Zinc’s second institutional fund will provide a significant portion of the capital required to reach its £70 million target while supporting the creation and development of a new generation of science-led companies across the U.K.
