Craig Newman, chief executive, Woodford Investment Management, said that when the company headed by veteran fund manager Neil Woodford announced the Woodford Patient Capital Trust in early February it hoped that investors would embrace the early-stage / early-growth asset class that the company believes has been overlooked.

At launch the target for share capital raising was £200m, with the leeway to issue up to £500m worth of shares in the event that demand was high.

Mr Newman said: "Over the past few days it has become clear that the concept of investing patient capital in early-stage and early-growth businesses has captured investors' imagination – so much so that we may exceed £500m during the offer period.

"We are extremely excited by the level of support we are getting from investors and where we can, we want to avoid scaling back investors' applications, which would likely occur if the final interest is greater than £500m. This is why the trust's board has decided to publish a supplementary prospectus, increasing the share capital it can issue and bringing the maximum amount that can be raised to £800m."

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Mr Newman says that Woodford believes it is in everyone's interests to increase the amount available now so it will not impact its objective or portfolio construction, as outlined in the prospectus at the time the offer was launched.

Woodford Investment Management is an fast-growing asset management company launched in May 2014. It so far has more than £9.3bn assets under management and advice.