Columbia Lake Partners
A London growth debt fund writing term loans of £3m to £10m to venture-backed software companies, underwritten on recurring revenue and runway, with warrants and light covenants.
What they do
Columbia Lake Partners lends to venture-backed technology and software businesses across the UK and Europe, sizing loans against annual recurring revenue, growth and cash runway rather than earnings, and leaning on the diligence the existing venture syndicate has already done. Facilities are senior term loans with warrants attached, light covenants and no board seat. Institutional backing includes a £40m commitment from British Business Investments to its second fund alongside partners of a well-known US venture firm.
Where they fit in a lower-mid-market raise
Where a software company wants to fund the gap between equity rounds without resetting a valuation, this is a straightforward, familiar structure from a lender that will not take a seat at the table or impose bank-style covenants. Facilities of £3m to £10m sit comfortably inside a lower-mid-market raise, and the absence of maintenance covenants matters for a business whose monthly numbers move sharply.
Where they are not the fit
Venture backing is required and pre-revenue companies are outside the mandate, as is anything outside technology. This is not acquisition finance and not a lender for profitable non-technology businesses. Warrants plus a coupon well above bank margins are the cost of unsecured-feeling money for a loss-making borrower.
Published terms
- Pricing
- Not published
- Speed to terms
- Not published
- Sponsored or sponsorless
- VC-sponsor-dependent - lends to venture-equity-backed companies; not sponsorless/owner-managed
- Where they lend
- + EU - London HQ, pan-European mandate
- How they decide
- Partner-led an investment committee; backed by institutional LPs (British Business Investments £40m to Fund II, Bessemer partners). Authority is delegated below committee on at least part of the book
- Covenants
- A loose covenant package
- Search funds and ETA
- No published route for search-fund or first-time acquirer borrowers
As published by the lender and last reviewed June 2026. Terms quoted on a deal are set by the credit, not by a published band.
What rules a deal out
Stated limits, taken from Columbia Lake Partners’s own published criteria. A limit is where a lender starts from, not where it always ends: several of these move on a strong enough credit.
- Must be VC-backed tech with revenue/PMF
- Not for profitable non-tech SMEs
- Not acquisition finance
- No appetite in adult, crypto, gambling, non-tech or non-technology sectors
How they sit against the category
- Its published ceiling is £10m; 31 of the 46 private-credit funds here go at least as high.
- Like 31 of the 46, it publishes no indicative price — a margin comes from a conversation, not a page.
Counted across the 46 private-credit & direct-lending funds in this directory, on what each one publishes. What a lender discloses and what it will do are different things.
Questions this page answers
How large a facility does Columbia Lake Partners write?
Published facilities run £3m to £10m. A band is what a lender states it will do, not what it will do on a given credit.
Does Columbia Lake Partners lend to search funds or ETA buyers?
Not on the published evidence. Columbia Lake Partners publishes no route for search-fund or first-time acquirer borrowers. A searcher's route to a lender usually runs through the quality of the target and the equity behind it.
Does Columbia Lake Partners lend to companies without a private-equity sponsor?
Not on the published evidence. Columbia Lake Partners lends alongside institutional equity or sponsor backing rather than to unbacked borrowers.
Where does Columbia Lake Partners lend?
Columbia Lake Partners lends + EU - London HQ, pan-European mandate.
What covenants does Columbia Lake Partners set?
A loose covenant package. A covenant package is negotiated on the facility; the published style is where the negotiation starts.
On the record
2020: British Business Investments committed up to £40m to CLP's second fund.
2025: 5 investments; cumulative >$800m deployed to 90+ companies; portfolio ~23 incl. unicorns Mews and Marshmallow (own site.
November 2025: Portfolio company Zuto acquired by Bridgepoint Group (exit.
Sources: clpgrowth.com · venturedebt.tech
This profile is a curated reference note drawn from public sources, not financial advice or a recommendation. Appetite and terms change; a lender's fit for a given credit is established by approaching it, not inferred from a page.