£5m boost for early stage social ventures in England

The second round of the Big Venture Challenge will open in January 2013, with £5m in new Lottery funding available to boost 100 early stage social ventures with high growth potential.

The Big Venture Challenge launched in 2011 with Big Lottery Fund backing and supported 12 enterprises to secure £1.2m in investment.

The second three-year round will also be funded by the Big Lottery Fund and successful applicants will be backed by experts from UnLtd, ClearlySo and the Shaftesbury Partnership.

Dan Lehner, head of ventures at UnLtd, said: ‘To date, social investors have shied away from backing innovative start-ups and early stage social ventures, but with the Big Venture Challenge, all that’s now changed.

‘We’ve shown that with the right support and our offer of matched funding, a range of investors are willing to back early stage social ventures – and expect commercial returns.’

Research released by UnLtd to accompany the launch showed that interventions to reduce risk for easly stage social investors could be a significant catalyst for the social venture market.

More information on the Big Venture Challenge website.