Business secretary Peter Kyle has made several announcements around government support for scaling businesses, including £25 million for an Octopus Energy spinoff and consultations on cutting red tape.
The funding has been provided by the British Business Bank (BBB) to Kraken Technologies which uses AI to improve customer service and billing for energy companies.
The £25 million is the Bank’s largest direct investment since it was set up in 2014. It follows reforms allowing it to take bigger, higher risk stakes in UK scale-ups.
The government hopes Kraken will list on the London Stock Exchange following its demerger from Octopus Energy Group, although chief executive Greg Jackson recently said he would “love” to choose London, but it is a “coin toss” between the UK and New York.
He told PA: “Speaking as the founder, shareholder and a Brit, I would love it to be London. I would need to see more hustle from the London Stock Exchange – they need to be bringing in more capital.”
Other announcements today include BBB investing £50 million each into two life sciences and deep tech funds: Epidarex Capital and IQ Capital.
The government also said it will launch regulatory reviews aimed at simplifying health and safety, farming and agri-tech rules to reduce paperwork and cut duplication, and it will scrap the Audit Reform Bill.
The long awaited Bill was aimed at reforming the audit market, with efforts to introduce it dating back eight years to the collapse of outsourcing group Carillion and other high profile corporate failures.
The King’s Speech in July 2024 announced that the Labour government intended to bring forward the Bill following concerns over the role of auditors in the collapse of businesses which have left former workers and suppliers financially ruined.
Among the plans were shutting the Financial Reporting Council and replacing it with the Audit, Reporting and Governance Authority, which would have had stronger powers.
But the government said it is scrapping the Bill to “avoid significant new costs for large firms”. Instead it is “pressing ahead with plans to allow virtual AGMs and streamline corporate reporting”.
Finally, the government said it has launched a consultation on speeding up and simplifying competition investigations and announced £150 million funding for battery research and development through the £452 million Battery Innovation Programme.
Peter Kyle said:
“For too long, Britain’s most promising companies have had to look abroad for the backing they need to grow. Scale-ups that should have become homegrown champions struggle against a system that is too slow and too fragmented. This package changes that.
“We are placing big bets on the industries where Britain can win, backing our innovators with real firepower, and cutting the red tape that holds them back. This is what decisive government looks like – creating an economy that can grow and deliver prosperity for all.”