Enterprise Ventures celebrates three Growth Fund exits in three months

Venture and growth capital provider Enterprise Ventures has reported three exits from its managed Growth Funds in as many months.

The deals, with two North West firms and another in South Yorkshire, delivered an aggregate return of 4.6 times the initial investments.

Through the Growth Funds, Enterprise Ventures – a wholly owned subsidiary of Mercia Technologies PLC– invests between £500k and £2m as equity funding in established, profitable companies.

Over the last three months, Enterprise Ventures’ three exits covered Speke-based transfer valve manufacturer ChargePoint Technology and Barnsley-based body art products company Barber DTS, along with a partial exit from Westhoughton-based coachbuilding business Woodall Nicholson.

Enterprise Ventures’ executive director of funds, Jonathan Diggines, said: “The EV Growth Funds have performed particularly well. We raised these funds when many other fund managers seemed unwilling to support SMEs and we still believe that this is the case.

“90% of private equity funds are directed to businesses that are above the SME threshold, which means that they are only addressing 10% of the UK businesses population.”

He added: “Enterprise Ventures, working in the UK’s capital-underserved regions, sees great opportunities, investing in innovative SMEs and delivering strong returns for investors.”

Investment director Wayne Thomas commented: “With three great exits in the past three months, it means that more than 90% of the capital has now been returned to the Investors of the EV Growth Funds.

“The remaining portfolio of ten companies continues to mature and flourish, with a number of investees growing as planned and reporting increased profitability, and undoubtedly there will be more successful investment returns to report.”