The National Wealth Fund is a UK policy bank, a public finance institution designed to mobilise private capital for major infrastructure and industrial projects. Backed by £27.8 billion in public capital, its primary mandate is to crowd in private investment — using public capital to derisk projects so that private investors are more comfortable investing. 

The National Wealth Fund was formed in 2024 from the expansion of the UK Infrastructure Bank. Based in Leeds, the Fund is wholly owned and backed by HM Treasury but is operationally independent. It does not offer grants — instead, it provides equity, loans, and guarantees on commercial terms.

Investments made by the National Wealth Fund must meet a triple bottom line. First, they must support the government’s growth mission and Industrial Strategy, particularly in regards to its clean energy mission. Second, they must be intended to deliver a positive financial return for the taxpayer; it is not a subsidy scheme. Third, investments must mobilise significant private capital that otherwise would not have been deployed. Naturally, as the National Wealth Fund, investments must be based in the United Kingdom. 

The National Wealth Fund is guided by a Statement of Strategic Priorities. This document sets out that the Fund is a key lever for helping deliver growth, such as by investing in growth-driving sectors in the Industrial Strategy, supporting the infrastructure strategy, supporting economic security and resilience, and investing in regions and high potential clusters. At the same time, the National Wealth Fund is a key lever in helping deliver the government’s clean energy mission, such as by investing in the development of low-carbon power generation, storage technologies, low carbon fuels and technologies, and nascent markets and early-stage technologies. 

The National Wealth Fund is focused on later-stage, capital-intensive projects rather than early-stage startups. For private sector deals, the minimum ticket size is £25 million, making it a tool for scaling industrial technology or infrastructure rather than funding software R&D.

Further Reading

This entry was written by Mann Virdee. Mann is a Senior Researcher at The Entrepreneurs Network, and Sir Isaac Newton Adjunct Fellow in Science, Innovation and Technology at the Council on Geostrategy.