North East Fund Hits £300m Milestone

The North East Fund has made a £300m impact since it was launched five years ago, having invested in 400 companies which have created over 2,000 new jobs.

It will now continue investing until at least the end of 2023 and encourages more North East companies to apply for funding.

The North East Fund was originally due to invest £120m by the end of March 2023 but thanks to an additional allocation of European Regional Development Fund cash it will now invest £130m by the end of the year, and may be set to continue into 2024.

These developments follow a record-breaking year for the fund, which completed £28.5m of investments during 2022. It has now invested £100m in 400 companies, which helped them to secure a further £200m from other financing partners – generating a £300m impact in the region so far.

Speaking this week, the North East Fund’s Jason Hobbs said: “It is great to hit the £100m milestone, and even better that we will continue to provide support throughout the rest of the year. Since we launched, businesses have had to deal with economic turbulence from multiple causes, including Brexit and the Covid pandemic, and our funding has helped many companies to continue to grow and create jobs.

“We have supported many companies in the region’s thriving digital and biotechnology sectors as well as in manufacturing and service sectors.

“We provide funding on a commercial basis so that it can be recycled to provide support to future entrepreneurs in the region. Over £30m of returns have been generated to date, and this means that we expect to be able to continue investing into 2024 and beyond, after the European Regional Development Fund has come to an end.”

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily