The North East Fund celebrates one year worth of £20m investment

The North East Fund has invested £20m and leveraged £23m more in its first 12 months.

This has helped over 125 regional SMEs to grow their businesses and create new jobs. Marking its first anniversary, the £120m regional funding programme has delivered investments in various projects including £2.6m in low carbon initiatives and £6m in manufacturing and engineering companies.

21 SMEs in County Durham, including Ibex Innovations and Parsons Containers, and more recently, insurance platform company, Honco Markets, have received approximately £2.6m in funding.

14 businesses in Sunderland have secured in the region of £2m and Northumberland companies, including AVID Technology, Boiler Plan and Trench Networks, have secured a total of £4m of investment from the North East Fund.

Jason Hobbs, CEO of The North East Fund, said: “We’ve made a really positive start since our launch last year.

“We have set ourselves a target of investing in 600 businesses over the course of five years from a diverse range of industries, and given the success of our predecessor, the JEREMIE Fund, we can show just how important funds like the North East Fund are to our region and what they can achieve.

“The JEREMIE Fund invested £160m, leveraged in a further £300m of private capital, supported over 900 businesses and either created or safeguarded some 8,000 jobs. If we can emulate that success, then we will certainly have achieved our objectives.

The North East Fund is managed by The North East Fund Limited. It is available to SMEs located in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham through four specialist fund management organisations; Maven Capital Partners, NEL Fund Managers, Northstar Ventures and Mercia Fund Management.