The Sheffield-based British Business Bank has announced it will commit up to £150 million capital to support a fund aimed at high-growth businesses across the North of England.
The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank.
“The proposed Northern scale-up fund will provide larger scale investment to innovative scale-up businesses seeking capital to accelerate their growth and expansion,” said the British Business Bank.
“The fund is expected to back university spinouts and other innovative, high-growth companies from Liverpool to Manchester, Bradford and Leeds to Sheffield, and York to Hull and Newcastle.
“It is expected to make investments of between £5m and £15m, complementing the Bank’s existing programmes in the region, including the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II and Regional Angels Programme.
“The fund’s investment approach will reflect the sector strengths, including creative industries, clean energy and space and technology within the geography it covers, supporting ambitious businesses with the potential to scale and contribute to regional growth.
“The announcement comes in the same week the Bank brings together regional stakeholders in Brighton to launch the £210m South East Investment Fund, underlining its wider commitment to increasing access to finance for businesses across the UK.”
Leandros Kalisperas, Chief Investment Officer, British Business Bank, said: “This new Northern scale-up fund reflects the Bank’s commitment to addressing regional equity gaps and helping ambitious, innovative businesses in the North of England to have the same opportunity to access the capital they need to grow and thrive as other parts of the UK.
“The proposed fund would provide an important new source of scale-up capital building on the success of our Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II, which continues to deliver support to smaller businesses of up to £5m of capital.”