Maven managed Finance Durham Fund has invested £3.4 million since launching two years ago backing 10 local businesses to support growth ambitions and create jobs.
The Finance Durham Fund, managed by Maven, is celebrating its second full year of supporting dynamic growth businesses across County Durham. Since launch, the Fund has invested £3.4 million in 10 businesses across the region, driving economic prosperity whilst creating and safeguarding over 250 jobs.
Maven was appointed by Durham County Council in May 2017 to manage the £20 million regional development fund and has since been supporting innovative and ambitious businesses across a wide range of sectors and in a variety of funding scenarios.
Many dynamic smaller companies are struggling to access the funding that will allow them to fulfil their growth potential. The Fund is helping to address this issue, providing greater levels of investment and increasing flexibility in the type of funding available to those businesses.
Notable transactions include a £1 million investment in NETPark-based water technology business, G2O, a £1.95 million investment in leading independent engineering business, Dyer Engineering, a £850,000 investment in reverse auction marketplace, honcho and a £400,000 investment in 2019 North East Business Innovation awards winners, Intelligence Fusion.
In line with Durham County Council’s economic growth strategy to encourage entrepreneurship in County Durham and help businesses grow and compete more effectively, Maven has also established a comprehensive ‘Access to Finance’ programme. Through a series of business clinics and workshops, the programmes assist entrepreneurs in developing an appropriate business structure and strategy to enable them to secure growth funding. This initiative has supported over 150 of the County’s best and brightest businesses in the past two years.
We are delighted that the Fund has reached such a significant milestone and that we have been able to support so many jobs across the County. Many of our transactions are fantastic examples of investors in the North East working together to provide local businesses with substantial funding packages to enable them to grow globally. At Maven, we understand the importance of proactively providing local support, our investment team has considerable in-depth knowledge of the local SME market, allied to our national resource, we are well-equipped to deliver comprehensive investor readiness training tailored to the individual growth needs of businesses based in County Durham.
Michael Vassallo, Investment Director at Maven
We are committed to supporting businesses across the county to grow and achieve their ambitions. The Finance Durham Fund is a major part of this and we are delighted to be able to share such positive news as we mark two years since its inception. Durham has an international reputation as a home for dynamic businesses. By encouraging entrepreneurship, investing in infrastructure and helping companies to access the growth funding they need, we can build on this reputation and create even more jobs and opportunities.
Cllr Carl Marshall, Cabinet member for economic regeneration at Durham County Council