UK launches refugee-focused venture fund with initial £300,000 investment

What happened

Launching with £300,000 in initial capital, with plans to increase this to £500,000, the Fund expects to make investments of £50,000–£100,000 in three to five companies. The research also identifies an estimated £5.1 billion in potential additional economic activity through business creation, growth, employment, and investment.

Today marks the launch of the Refugee Venture Fund (RVF), a new UK venture capital fund dedicated exclusively to investing in high-growth businesses founded by refugees. The initial investments are intended to establish a track record ahead of a planned £10 million fund targeting refugee-founded businesses.

Research by The Entrepreneurial Refugee Network (TERN) and Square estimates that 26,500 refugee entrepreneurs already contribute £520 million to the UK economy. TERN, which has spent a decade supporting refugee entrepreneurs, established the fund with support from Atomico .