The North West Fund has made the following update on its progress:
Over the first three quarters of 2015 we are proud to have invested £20.9m into over 70 businesses and provided follow on finance to 75 of our current portfolio across the region, bringing our investment total to £135m. Our Q3 investment total of £5.6m represents an increase of 47 per cent on the same period last year, underlining the growing confidence in the market.
We are also pleased to announce we have hit the £50m invested milestone in Merseyside. This is a fantastic achievement for The North West Fund, the Merseyside region has been an important focus for us, as we have always recognised the enormous growth potential there and it is a privilege for us to hit this milestone, as well as witness the success of our investees, and the positive impact we have had on upcoming entrepreneurs and business leaders.
This figure represents over a third of our total investment to date, and has had an impact on the local Merseyside economy, creating and safeguarding over 1,000 jobs and leveraging a further £20m in private sector finance.
Key highlights from the quarter include:
Drug development company Evgen Pharma plc successfully listed on AIM following support from The North West Fund for Biomedical. On admission, Evgen had a market capitalization of £27m. The Liverpool-based company received initial funding in 2011
VYPR Validation Technologies secured a £55,000 venture capital investment from The North West Fund for Digital & Creative. The Manchester firm is now developing its mobile market research platform.
DLS Tool and Plant hire in St Helens secured a £25,000 investment from The North West Fund for Micro Loans and can now move forward with their growth plans including taking on more staff.
Merseyside’s Acoustic Sensing Technology received an additional investment of £200,000 from The North West Fund for Energy & Environmental. This follows the development of the company’s SewerBatt™ software solution.
There is a great deal of activity in the debt markets at present, evidenced by our Loans Plus arm hitting its £35m lending milestone, having supported almost 200 enterprises across the North West. In addition, our newly-established Micro Loans arm surpassed its £1m milestone earlier this year, demonstrating the increased ability and willingness of SMEs to take on debt.
It has been another strong year for The Fund, and we are set for an exciting end to the year with a number of deals in the pipeline. The anouncement of a Northern Powerhouse Fund is excellent news for the region and we are delighted that SME’s can continue to seek investment to start, develop and grow their businesses as our pot of money begins to come to an end. However we are fully focused on ensuring that we invest the remainder of our capital for the beneift of the North West region.
