In its first four years of operations, the North East fund has helped 350 businesses to raise more than £220 million of funding. The £80 million provided by the North East Fund helped those companies to secure a further £140 million from other investors and funders.
Established with funding from the European Regional Development Fund, it comprises of a suite of five funds, each positioned at different stages of the growth cycle. Maven was appointed to manage the Development Capital Fund, investing from £400,000 to £2 million in established businesses with ambitious growth plans. To date our North East based investment team have provided over £18 million of funding to a diverse range of companies. This includes the £1.5 million investment in AI-powered retail technology platform RevLifter. The North East Development Capital Fund investment is helping the London-based technology company to recruit and grow its business from a new office in the Catalyst building in Newcastle, which is also home to the National Innovation Centre for Data.
The Fund plans to invest a further £40 million in at least 150 more companies over the next two years and is calling for businesses based in Northumberland, Tyne & Wear or County Durham to get in touch to discuss their working capital requirements and growth plans.
“Many business owners have fantastic ideas that require funding but might not know what is available, or how to present those ideas in a structured plan. We help businesses build a full package of support and provide guidance on completing their funding applications – all on a free, confidential and no obligation basis.”
James Holloway, External Engagement Officer for the North East Fund
“External investment can help to strengthen a business. Our fund managers provide businesses with loans or equity funding to support working capital requirements and business growth plans. They can also make introductions to industry contacts and to other national and international investors. These have almost tripled the value of our own investments, making a £220 million impact on the region in the past four years. We’d like to talk to more North East businesses to help them to tap into available funding.”
Andrew Gibson, External Engagement Officer for the North East Fund