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Nest plans to allocate up to £1bn to venture capital by 2030. By Callum Conway Nest has launched a £200m dedicated venture capital (VC) sleeve with Schroders Capital, and plans to invest up to £1bn in VC by 2030, as it looks to increase its exposure to late-stage, high-growth private companies. The pension scheme said the allocation, made on behalf of its 14 million members, will incorporate existing venture investments and provide fresh capital for new late-stage VC opportunities. Nest noted the allocation could rise to around £1bn by 2030, subject to the availability of high-quality investment opportunities, with a strong focus on UK-based unlisted companies. The new sleeve will be tailored and managed by Schroders Capital, building on Nest's existing private markets strategy and its investments in growth-stage companies since 2022. Examples of UK companies Schroders Capital has already invested in on behalf of Nest, which will sit within the new VC portfolio, include autonomous driving AI software company Wayve and AI video creation firm Synthesia. Nest said the new VC sleeve supports its wider ambition to grow private markets exposure to up to 30 per cent by 2030, and forms part of its broader aim to enhance long-term returns through greater diversification, while also supporting UK innovation. Nest Invest chief executive officer, Mark Fawcett OBE, said: "As Nest has grown, we have continued to evolve our investment approach, opening up new investment opportunities for our members. "We are delighted to expand this approach further into venture capital, providing injections of cash that growing businesses need to scale. "As a large, long-term investor, Nest is well positioned to support ambitious private companies. Our members save with us over decades, which allows us to invest patiently and back innovation through different stages of growth." Fawcett added that Nest was "particularly drawn" to opportunities in the UK business sector, where support for innovation could drive job creation and economic growth. "Over the coming years, we will build a more meaningful allocation to late-stage venture capital, giving our 14 million members access to the long-term growth potential that innovative, high-growth companies can offer," he continued. "To this end, we are delighted to deepen our partnership with Schroders Capital. Their capabilities across venture and growth investing, combined with their experience investing across the full business lifecycle, make them a strong partner for this strategy. "We also expect a significant proportion of these investments to be in UK-based companies, something our members tell us they want." Meanwhile, Schroders Capital head of private equity investments, Tim Creed, said the partnership created a "strong platform" to identify and support high-quality growth companies. "The UK is already Europe's largest venture hub, and the world's third largest," he continued. "It is one of the most efficient venture ecosystems globally, growing unicorns at pace - however, domestic capital has not historically participated at the same rate. "As a global innovation leader, the UK has a significant and largely untapped opportunity to bring this growth to pension portfolios." Pensions Minister, Torsten Bell, commented: "Britain creates some of the best, most innovative new companies in the world. "By channelling pension savings into high-growth UK companies, Nest is backing the entrepreneurs and innovators driving jobs and growth across the country, while delivering better long-term returns for its 14 million members." Similarly, UK Private Capital chief executive, Michael Moore, welcomed the announcement, describing it as a "significant and welcome milestone" for the UK VC market. "It demonstrates growing confidence that backing innovative, high-growth businesses can deliver attractive long-term returns for pension savers while supporting the UK's future economic growth," he said. "Commitments of this scale send an important signal to the market that there is a compelling investment case for UK innovation, and we hope it encourages other pension schemes to accelerate their own plans to invest in private capital."

UK robotaxis to start carrying paying passengers 'in next couple of months' 13 hrs ago By PA News Agency Self-driving taxis will carry paying passengers for the first time on UK roads this summer, a company developing the technology said. Kaity Fischer, who leads Wayve's robotaxi business, told the Press Association it is "ready to go" as Uber prepares to begin using its systems in London. A human driver will initially sit behind the wheel ready to take control during journeys while the technology is demonstrated to be safe. Uber passengers will be offered self-driving vehicles at the same charge as its conventional minicabs. On Monday, the ride-hailing app company began enabling users to express their desire to be among the first people to try the new service. Self-driving vehicles will be available on Uber's X, Comfort and Electric journeys. Ms Fischer said: "South Wales Guardian is looking forward to launching in London in the next couple of months. "We're ready to go, and can't wait to get the public into our vehicles to experience Wayve technology first hand." Cars with Wayve's self-driving systems have six cameras, a radar and an AI-powered computer in the boot which control their responses. The human supervisor behind the wheel of a Ford Mustang Mach-E SUV did not need to intervene during a 15-minute demonstration journey from the company's north London headquarters on Friday. The car reacted sensibly to hazards such as pedestrians crossing the road and overtaking vehicles travelling towards it, and when the road was clear it went up to but not beyond the 20mph speed limit. Wayve was founded in 2017 by two University of Cambridge PhD students. London will be the first city in the world to use its technology for commercial journeys. The company will then expand to more than 10 cities globally in partnership with Uber, including Tokyo, Japan, later this year. Wayve is also working with car manufacturers such as Nissan and Stellantis to deploy its systems in private vehicles. Ms Fischer described London's roads as the "ultimate testing ground for autonomous technology". She said that compared with San Francisco in the US - which is a common location for rolling out robotaxis - London has 20 times more roadworks and 10 times more vulnerable road users, such as pedestrians and cyclists. Combining that with London's "2,000-year-old streets", which are not in a grid layout and have "potholes and cobblestone paths", creates an "incredible proving ground", she added. Annie Duvnjak, who leads global mobility autonomous operations at Uber, said it will launch with a "small fleet" of robotaxis in London, before "scaling up over time". Asked how she expects passengers in the capital to react, she replied: "What South Wales Guardian has seen in other markets is it's really magical. "When you first get in, you look around and all of a sudden the car is driving and it feels normal. "You forget that you're in an autonomous vehicle (AV), and that's the beauty of it." Uber already offers self-driving journeys in the US cities of Austin in Texas and Atlanta in Georgia. Some Uber drivers in London have held small-scale protests against the use of robotaxis. In response to a question on whether the technology means fewer human drivers will be needed, Ms Duvnjak said: "South Wales Guardian actually do believe that human drivers and AVs will continue to grow. "That's because... South Wales Guardian do want to be really reliable. "There'll be multiple routes or weather conditions where it might not make sense for an AV to take a ride, and we are constantly seeing demand grow in cities, which means more drivers and more AVs over time." Waymo - a subsidiary of Google-owner Alphabet - has also been testing its self-driving minicabs in London, ahead of launching commercial services. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the technology has "the potential to transform how people travel" by "reducing road danger while driving growth and creating high-skilled jobs across the UK". She added: "Wayve is a British success story and this partnership with Uber is a welcome vote of confidence in their technology." More Stories