Scottish Widows to invest in British quantum and AI ventures
IP Group has announced that will manage a portfolio within Scottish Widows that will channel members’ workplace pension savings into high-tech British businesses.
Aberdeen Investments has appointed IP Group to manage a UK venture growth portfolio within the CG Scottish Widows Growth Long-Term Asset Fund (LTAF), connecting members’ savings with British businesses across high-potential industries, including quantum computing and artificial intelligence.
This makes Scottish Widows amongst the first UK pension schemes to actively allocate its members’ savings to UK tech venture growth.
The CG Scottish Widows Growth LTAF is managed by Aberdeen Investments and targets higher-return assets, including private equity, venture capital, infrastructure equity and private credit.
One of the fund’s goals is to increase the flow of long-term pension capital into high-growth businesses in the United Kingdom, helping to growth the amount of long-term pension savings being invested into UK innovation and the scaling of start-ups within the country.
The first investments in the fund’s portfolio managed by IP Group will be deployed across a range of high-potential sectors in the UK, including AI-enabled hardware, advanced battery technology, and quantum computing.
Growing British quantum and AI companies
Initial investments will include quantum computing companies Oxford Quantum Circuits and Quantum Motion, as well as ultra-fast-charging battery startup Nyobolt, and healthcare AI company Genomics Limited.
IP Group hopes that investment from the Scottish Widows fund will help to scale innovative companies in the UK to commercial success, building on the country’s academic success.
“Our partnership with Aberdeen Investments and Scottish Widows on this growth fund will connect long-term pension capital with world-class British innovation,” said IP Group CEO Greg Smith.
“We are helping create a pathway for millions of pension savers to participate in the value created by the next generation of technology leaders. It’s fantastic that the fund’s first UK investments span such important areas including quantum computing, clean energy and healthcare innovation, sectors where the UK has the potential to build globally significant companies.”
“We believe pension savers should be able to benefit from the growth and innovation taking place across the UK,” said Scottish Widows Chief Investment Officer Peter Fitzgerald.
“Our proposition helps connect our workplace pension customers’ long-term savings with some of Britain’s most innovative, high-growth companies, giving them access to investment opportunities that have traditionally been available mainly to institutional investors.”
