BOARDROOM
Lloyds Bank opens £62mn fund to help community lenders support small businesses
The UK bank hopes to invest in around 800 small businesses, it has announced.
It will initially invest through Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) – non-profit lenders who support credible businesses that cannot get finance from traditional banks.
CDFIs lend disproportionately to female- and minority-led businesses and in more deprived areas.
Some £248mn was loaned by CDFIs in the UK in 2022.
Leon co-founder launches £50mn fund to invest in sustainable food firms
Henry Dimbleby, co-founder of natural fast food chain Leon, has launched a new VC firm to invest in businesses that focus on food security and sustainable farming.
Bramble Partners is backed by a £50mn fund, Just Food reports, to invest in firms that focus on “healthy life-span, limit the damage the food system does to our environment, and improve food security”.
Bramble will invest from Series A to growth stage.
AI-vaccines firm secures £9mn to develop jabs that fight off virus mutations
UK biotech start-up Baseimmune has secured £9mn in early-stage funding from MSD Global Health Innovation Fund, the FT reports.
Baseimmune uses AI to predict future disease mutations, so vaccines can remain effective for longer.
“Instead of chasing variants, we are predicting them,” co-founder Ariane Gomes told the FT. “This is part of why we say our vaccines last for longer.”
Fellow co-founder Josh Blight told the paper that, “Rather than having a flu booster every year, if you have a Baseimmune vaccine, you maybe have a vaccine once every five years”.
Deals for vaccine-related biotech firms soared during Covid, peaking at around £5bn in 2021.
France backs €2bn of loans to help firms fight climate change
The French state will guarantee €2bn in loans to help firms adapt to climate change, Bloomberg Green reports.
The public investment bank Bpifrance will manage loans of more than €200mn for large enterprises, while commercial banks will grant smaller loans to SMEs from July.
State-run firms such as Électricité de France and the mainline rail operator SNCF will also need to create detailed, long-term plans for climate adaptation by the end of this year.
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