Oxford Science Enterprises’ chief executive says UK pension funds are “way off the pace” in funding promising technology companies. Reform efforts like the Mansion House accord, where major workplace providers pledged to increase investment in private and high-growth firms, are not moving quickly enough. Oxford-rooted businesses are scaling faster than domestic capital is being deployed. Most external capital raised by OSE portfolio companies came from American investors, and UK scale-ups increasingly rely on overseas funding. The executive says US money is not the problem, but the share of UK—especially pension—money needs to increase substantially. He attributes the gap to limited understanding of the opportunity and potential returns in this investment space.
"“Everyone's diagnosed the problem, but the movement towards the solution is just way off the pace in terms of the speed at which we and others are building companies,” Bussey told Business Matters. “We've got companies with technology that should be thinking about $100 billion in terms of the scale of opportunity, and that's reflected in the international capital - and particularly US capital - that is being attracted into these sorts of companies.”"
"“There's nothing wrong with US money per se,” Bussey said. “But the share of UK money, particularly UK pension money, just needs to be dialled up about ten times. I think there's a lack of understanding [within pension funds] of this space, of the opportunity, of the potential returns.”"
"Ed Bussey, chief executive of Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), said reform efforts such as the Mansion House accord, under which seventeen of Britain's largest workplace providers voluntarily pledged to put more of their members' savings into private and high-growth companies, are simply not moving quickly enough to keep up with the pace at which Oxford-rooted businesses are scaling."
Read at Business Matters
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