Small and medium-sized firms in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham could benefit from part of a £40m investment pot over the next two years.
The North East Fund says it wants to invest in at least 150 more companies and is urging businesses to discuss working capital requirements and growth plans with its team.
It follows milestones reached including more than £220m raised for more than 350 regional businesses, creating 1,500 jobs, in the first four years since the fund was launched.
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James Holloway, external engagement officer for the North East Fund, said: “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 work with businesses to better understand the various options open to them.
"We can explain how debt or equity funding from the North East Fund might work for them, as well as how to pull in funding and support from other sources. We help them build a full package of support and provide guidance on completing their funding applications – all on a free, confidential and no obligation basis.”
The North East Fund was established with European Regional Development Fund money and includes five regional venture capital and loan funds providing loans or equity investment from £10,000 to more than £1m.
Sweet Solstice in Alnwick is one of the 350 businesses that have benefited from investment via the North East Fund. Owner Autumn Rabbitts secured a £24,500 North East Small Loan Fund investment through NEL Fund Managers to expand her home-based bespoke cake-making business, Plumb and Rabbitts Cake Studio, to establish Sweet Solstice, a magical witch-themed town-centre bakery.
She said: “This investment has made it possible for me to take my business in a new direction much faster than I could have done it alone. From the moment that I was referred to NEL Fund Managers things moved really quickly. I already had my business plan in place and so it was only a matter of weeks before I had the funding and Sweet Solstice was born.
"I already have one member of staff, with another one starting in May. I would advise any North East small business owner with dreams of expansion to look into the North East Fund.”
Elsewhere, the North East Fund has supported larger deals including a £1.5m investment into retail tech company RevLifter which recently opened a base in Newcastle and a recent six-figure investment at Gateshead-based software-as-a-service firm Mesma.
Andrew Gibson, external engagement officer for the North East Fund, added: “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 £220m 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.”
