Partner Article

The North West Fund hits £125m milestone

The North West Fund, which provides finance from £25,000 to £2m for growing businesses, has successfully invested £125m worth of funding into more than 375 of the region’s growing businesses.

The Fund has safeguarded over 3,500 jobs and has leveraged a further £95m in private sector finance. This has had a significant impact on the North West economy increasing gross value added (GVA) to £60m - a figure that will continue to rise as The Fund’s investments mature.

The Fund, which was established in 2010 and financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the European Investment Bank, provides debt and equity funding to SMEs in the North West of England.

Key highlights from The Fund include:

A £650,000 investment in Carlisle-based EcoLogicLiving from The North West Fund for Energy & Environmental, helping the business achieve turnover of £4.5m An investment in Burnley-based systems developer Connect Technology Group, to invest in new product development to capitalise on the UK childcare sector Two rounds of £50,000 in Warrington-based bespoke microbiological testing business, Perfectus Biomed A £750,000 investment in Manchester-based Reality Mine, a leading provider of mobile research technologies and behavioural data, helping the business target expansion overseas A six-figure investment in University of Liverpool spin-out, Fusion Implants, to develop a surgical implant to cure lameness and restore mobility in dogs

Cliff Maylor, CEO of The North West Fund, said: “This milestone is a fantastic achievement for the organisation, but what’s more impressive is the funds that have been invested into more than 375 businesses.

“The number of jobs created is a reflection of how hard our sub-funds have been working to impact the region’s businesses at different stages in their lifecycles.

“As the economy continues to grow and confidence remains high, it is important that we continue to provide an attractive alternative to lending. With more funds left to deploy, we look forward to working with more companies in the region to support their long term growth objectives.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Pablo Rodriguez .