KAREN JOY BACUDO

Finance Editor

The British Business Bank has committed capital to two new Seedcamp funds, extending a relationship that began with its first backing in 2017.

The commitments cover Seedcamp VII, the venture firm’s main first-cheque fund, and Seedcamp Nation II, which supports selected portfolio companies as they grow towards Series B and later rounds.

Financial terms were not disclosed. The bank previously made a cornerstone commitment to Seedcamp IV, followed by a GBP £15 million commitment to Seedcamp V in 2020.

Founded in 2007, Seedcamp manages more than USD $1 billion in assets and is known for making early institutional investments in young technology companies. Its portfolio includes more than 500 businesses, including Revolut, Wise, UiPath, Synthesia, Fluidstack and Pleo.

Under the new structure, Seedcamp VII will invest in AI-native and software companies at the pre-seed and seed stages. Nation II will focus on companies from Seedcamp’s earlier funds that show the strongest potential to raise larger rounds as they scale.

The move aligns with the British Business Bank’s aim of increasing the supply of capital for growing businesses in the UK, particularly when startups seek larger backing to move beyond early development.

Longer relationship

The renewed support signals confidence in Seedcamp’s position in the European early-stage market. The firm has become one of the more established players in the segment, with a long record of identifying companies early and remaining involved as they expand.

That approach has gained importance as investors and policymakers focus on the gap between seed funding and later-stage finance. While the UK and Europe have produced a growing number of technology companies, access to larger rounds remains a recurring challenge for founders trying to scale.

The British Business Bank, the UK government’s economic development bank, said its core programmes support GBP £23 billion of finance for almost 64,000 smaller businesses. Its involvement in venture funds is part of a broader effort to channel more capital into early-stage and scaling companies.

“We first backed Seedcamp almost a decade ago and have seen them grow into one of Europe’s leading venture investors. The team has played a major role in building the UK’s startup ecosystem and these new funds will help create and nurture the next generation of UK tech champions,” said Christine Hockley, Managing Director and Co-Head of Funds at British Business Bank.

“Seedcamp has established itself as one of Europe’s most recognised early-stage managers, with a strong track record of identifying and backing category-defining companies from inception through to global scale. Their success demonstrates the depth of talent in the ecosystem and the significant opportunity available to investors,” Chris Smart, Investment Director at British Business Bank, added.

Focus on AI

The new funds arrive as artificial intelligence continues to attract investor attention across Europe. Seedcamp VII’s focus on AI-native and software businesses suggests the firm expects that trend to remain central to the next wave of early-stage company formation.

At the same time, Nation II reflects another part of the venture model: reserving capital for a smaller number of existing portfolio companies rather than focusing only on new startups. For founders, such vehicles can provide continued support from an existing investor as fundraising needs increase.

The strategy has become more common among venture firms seeking to balance broad early-stage exposure with the opportunity to increase backing for companies that begin to stand out. It can also help firms maintain a stake in businesses that move from seed rounds into larger growth financings.

For Seedcamp, the latest backing adds to a long history of close involvement with companies from their earliest institutional round. The firm has long described itself as a first-cheque investor, and its best-known portfolio companies have helped make it one of Europe’s more visible venture brands.

“The last 20 years of European tech created companies that proved Europe could win. The next 20 will create companies that define entire industries globally from day one. That shift is already happening – and our job is to back the founders building before everyone else sees it,” said Carlos Espinal, Managing Partner at Seedcamp.

KAREN JOY BACUDO

Finance Editor

NatWest has launched a bank-wide accreditation in AI and data ethics for staff, available to all 60,000 employees across the group.

The programme is designed to help employees use artificial intelligence responsibly in day-to-day work as AI tools become more common across the organisation. It follows an earlier course developed with the University of Edinburgh and delivered to about 90 employees across different business areas and roles.

Under the new scheme, staff will complete eight e-learning modules linked to NatWest’s AI ethics principles, followed by a half-day collaborative session focused on practical application. The course also includes guidance on identifying, assessing and managing ethical risks when using AI, including how to judge whether AI-driven decisions are fair and how training data can affect outcomes.

Employees who complete the course will receive an internal accreditation from NatWest and are expected to continue learning as AI standards and tools evolve. The programme is expected to take two to three months to complete, with the first modules launching in June and the wider rollout continuing through October.

Wider AI use

The accreditation forms part of a broader push by NatWest to expand the use of AI, data and digital tools across the bank while maintaining oversight of how those systems are used. All employees have completed core AI modules, and more than half have chosen to take additional training.

NatWest has also been introducing generative AI tools for internal use in research, analysis, customer interactions, fraud prevention and complaints handling. For customers, the bank highlighted AI-enabled virtual assistants, including Cora, which can help people manage finances and access more personalised support.

The lender has also been involved in external work on AI governance. It has supported the Responsible AI Network, an initiative that brings together practitioners, academics and businesses to discuss ethical AI, and has collaborated with the Financial Conduct Authority through the regulator’s AI Live Testing programme on security and ethical practices in agentic AI technology.

Dr Paul Dongha outlined the bank’s reasoning for the new training.

“As AI becomes increasingly embedded in how we serve customers and run our bank, it’s important that we equip colleagues with the skills and confidence to use it responsibly. Building on our existing AI and data ethics training, this accreditation gives our colleagues even more practical tools to recognise risks, ask the right questions and make better decisions in their day-to-day roles. By bringing this to all our colleagues, we’re building a strong culture of responsible AI, helping ensure we continue to be a trusted partner to our customers by meeting their needs, improving their banking experience and delivering consistent outcomes,” said Dr Paul Dongha, Head of Responsible AI and AI Strategy, NatWest Group.

Training focus

The original programme with the University of Edinburgh was developed as a bespoke course to improve understanding of AI and its ethical implications in a banking setting. NatWest said it was delivered across three cohorts and combined academic input with case studies intended to help staff apply the lessons in practical situations.

By extending that work across the whole bank, NatWest is seeking to make AI and data ethics training part of routine professional development rather than a specialist activity. The focus on structured learning and internal accreditation suggests it wants a common framework for staff using AI tools in customer-facing and operational roles.

One employee who took part in a pilot of the programme described how AI is already being used in daily work.

“AI is already becoming a really useful part of my day-to-day work, helping me find information more quickly and respond to customers more efficiently while making sure they get the right support. I can see it playing an even bigger role going forward, so having this kind of training will be really important in helping me use these tools confidently, understand where the risks are, and make sure I’m using them in a responsible way,” the staff said.

FLR Spectron has urged UK businesses to reassess their Microsoft licensing ahead of Microsoft 365 E7 price changes, arguing that the shift should prompt companies to review how they manage the spread of AI tools in their systems.

According to figures cited by FLR Spectron, Microsoft’s changes affect the pricing of its existing Microsoft 365 E5 and E3 tiers, while the newer E7 bundle remains at USD $99 per user. E5 rises from USD $57 to USD $60 per user, and E3 from USD $36 to USD $39, changing the economics for businesses weighing a gradual rollout of AI services against a broader bundle.

FLR Spectron’s case rests on more than software cost. Many organisations, it argues, are adding AI agents to enterprise applications without the controls needed to identify, monitor or limit what those systems can access.

That concern reflects a wider shift in corporate software. FLR Spectron pointed to a Gartner forecast that 40% of enterprise applications will feature task-specific AI agents by the end of 2026, up from less than 5% in 2025.

Cost pressure

For buyers already using much of Microsoft’s security, compliance and identity software, the unchanged E7 price could make the bundled option more attractive than assembling comparable products separately. FLR Spectron estimates the package now offers savings of about 15% compared with buying the components individually.

That calculation matters as finance and IT teams come under pressure to justify growing AI budgets. Many businesses have experimented with generative AI in isolated functions, but fewer have developed a licensing and governance model for broad use across the workforce.

FLR Spectron also argued that the issue goes beyond staff using public AI tools. AI agents embedded in business applications can operate with significant permissions while remaining difficult for security teams to detect and supervise.

Kamran Bahdur, Chief Information Officer at FLR Spectron, set out that risk in direct terms.

“Every AI agent a business deploys is a new identity with access to company systems, and most are being brought inside far faster than anyone can secure them. Each one is effectively another door into the network, often holding privileges on a par with a senior administrator, and the majority are invisible to the security team. As organisations rush agents into production, they widen their attack surface with every deployment. E7 addresses that risk head-on by providing businesses with Agent 365, which brings those agents under the same identity, monitoring and audit controls you’d apply to an employee so you can finally see them, govern them and switch them off,” Bahdur said.

Governance gap

FLR Spectron argues that the main challenge for many employers is the gap between AI adoption and internal governance. While software vendors are introducing AI features quickly, organisations often still rely on fragmented identity, security and data management tools.

Microsoft’s E7 offer, it said, seeks to bring together Defender, Entra Suite, Purview and Agent 365 in a single framework. In FLR Spectron’s view, that gives IT departments a clearer way to observe agents, apply policy controls and maintain audit oversight.

The firm also highlighted employee use of unapproved AI tools. Many workers, it said, are already turning to external services without formal authorisation from IT teams, creating risks around data leakage and compliance exposure, including under GDPR.

Bringing AI use into approved systems is one route companies are considering to reduce that risk. Sanctioned tools can be linked to internal identity controls and data policies in ways consumer-facing services often cannot.

Still, FLR Spectron stopped short of saying E7 is the right answer for every organisation. Its suitability, the firm said, depends on whether a business is ready to move from AI experiments to wider operational use.

Fabio Carvalho said many companies remain at an early stage because the basics are not yet in place.

“There’s a big difference between trialling AI and running it. Most organisations are stuck at the first because the foundation underneath isn’t there: identity, data and management are scattered across half a dozen tools, and you can’t safely scale agents on top of that. E7 provides the foundation and infrastructure for businesses to embed AI into their operations, and while the price increase is certainly a prompt, it’s this future-proofing that is encouraging earlier adopters to make the move now,” Carvalho said.

The broader issue for UK businesses is that AI spending is becoming more closely tied to questions of security architecture and software consolidation. As AI agents move from small pilots into day-to-day workflows, licensing decisions are increasingly bound up with who controls those systems, what data they can access and how quickly they can be shut down if something goes wrong.