The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF), delivered by British Business Bank, has invested a total of £20m in SMEs in the Leeds City Region.
Since its launch in February 2017, NPIF has delivered equity finance, debt finance, and microfinance solutions, ranging in size from £25,000 to £2m to businesses across the 10 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP) that make up the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ region.
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To date, NPIF has completed 104 investments in Leeds City Region-based SMEs across a range of sectors including ICT and manufacturing, which received £5.5m and £5.2m respectively.
Notable investments include Bababing, a manufacturer of childcare products such as changing bags, high chairs and strollers. Mercia Debt Finance backed the company with a £125,000 investment, which will be used to support the development of a new pushchair range and hire additional staff.
NPIF also invested in Huddersfield based Adventoris, whose software platform SwiftCloud allows businesses to receive sales orders directly from their B2B customers via a mobile app. The company secured a £500,000 investment from NPIF, Mercia Equity Finance, Angel CoFund and private investors in 2017.
Roger Marsh, chair of Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership, said: “SMEs are the driving force behind the Leeds City Region economy and it’s fantastic that NPIF has invested more than £20m into our most ambitious and exciting firms.
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By GlobalData“Support of this kind is vital to help achieve the LEP’s ambitions of helping businesses grow, attracting new investment to our region and developing the skills, energy and digital infrastructure to create jobs and prosperity.”
Ken Cooper, managing director at British Business Bank, said: “The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund’s performance in the Leeds City Region shows that there are great businesses here looking to grow with the right kind of finance. The NPIF funds provide additional options for businesses that might not be right for traditional bank lending and a growing number of companies are taking advantage of that to boost their growth.
“Whilst we’ve made great progress, there is still work to be done if we are to reduce the disparities between the North and the South. To that end, we will continue to support increased levels of investment to back ambitious SMEs that will boost economic prosperity in the North of England.”
The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.
Last year Barclays provided £500m to SMEs as part of the Northern Powerhouse scheme, but is tightening its lending criteria in the face of ongoing Brexit uncertainty, according to its chief executive Jes Staley.
