Ambitious businesses within the creative industries that are seeking financial support to scale up will benefit from a major extension to how the government works with the sector from today, in the latest move to break down barriers to investment and unlock vital growth capital.
To coincide with The Big Creative UK Investment Summit event in London, the measures form the latest part of delivering on the Creative Industries Sector Plan - and mark a step change in how public finance institutions support the sector, News Cover reports, citing the UK government's official website.
The British Business Bank (BBB) is significantly increasing its support for the creative industries as part of the £4 billion it has secured for Industrial Strategy priority sectors. Other measures to help support creative businesses announced by the Bank include:
A £45 million cornerstone commitment, announced today, into Redrice Ventures, a specialist seed-stage investor across the creative industries – delivering on its Sector Plan commitment to fund investors who truly understand the creative ecosystem.
The Bank is exploring using its existing financial guarantee capacity to support IP-backed lending, which will encourage entrepreneurship and innovation, and fulfil a request by the Government at the Autumn Budget.
The bank is working with other public bodies, including Innovate UK, to ensure joined-up support for businesses at all stages – from grants and early stage funding programmes, to finance for SMEs to grow and scale in the UK.
The bank is also convening key sector stakeholders – including small creative business owners, finance providers and public finance institutions, and working with the Creative Industries Council – to understand the investment opportunities in the sector.
To help businesses navigate their investment options, Creative UK will lead work to launch a new ‘single front door’ service later in 2026, offering clear guidance on accessing finance alongside improved signposting and support from the Business Growth Service and the British Business Bank. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is also publishing new resources for creative businesses and regional leaders today, including a map of finance available to the sector, and case studies of successful creative scale-ups.
The Office for Investment and the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) are working together to identify and deliver strategic investments, connecting UK businesses to international finance and global markets, in order to attract funding to the UK and expand the capability of our most promising creative industries. DBT, industry and Government partners are also continuing to attract international investors to the UK, to showcase our most innovative creative businesses through export missions and at key global trade events.
The UK’s creative industries are a national success story. New statistics show they contributed £145.8 billion in gross value added (GVA) in 2024, growing at four times the rate of the wider economy between 2023 and 2024. Research published today by the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre also shows that almost one in ten of the UK’s high growth potential firms are in the Creative Industries.
