Susanna Stanfield

Following market feedback review, the British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association (BVCA) has launched, in February 2025, the new revised versions of its standardised UK early-stage venture capital investments model documentation. As part of the BVCA working group who implemented these changes, Susanna Stanfield was able to see first-hand what was the market feedback and how the BVCA working committee dealt this and contributed to the resulting updates.

Some 343 million people worldwide face acute hunger – an issue likely to be worsened by a rapidly growing global population and a frequently disrupted food supply chain. At the same time, rising demand for protein and the food system itself are impacting the very thing food production needs to thrive, the environment – with animal agriculture alone estimated to account for 12-20% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Life sciences are a vital growth sector for the UK. The sector contributed £12 billion to the economy in 2023, while in a sign of the country's international reputation for research, Merck recently announced it will invest £1 billion to build a new research facility in London. However, at the recent Cambridge Tech Week (September 2024) our life sciences team heard concerns that innovators need support to help the UK maintain its leading position in the sector.