The North West Fund hits the £150m investment mark

THE North West Fund has invested over £150m in more than  440 of the region’s businesses since it was launched in 2010.

Over the last six years, the fund has created and safeguarded 4,500 jobs and has leveraged an additional £140m in private sector finance.

That equates to a £60m boost to the North West economy’s GVA, according to chief executive Cliff Maylor, who said the figures reflect the sustained success of the fund.

It has invested an average of around £34m a year for the last four years across a range of sectors, including technology, life sciences, energy, manufacturing, and digital and creative, to deliver growth objectives and expansion into new markets.  

Successful investments include Manchester-based consumer data specialist RealityMine, which was backed by The North West Fund for Digital & Creative in 2015. This led to the company being recognised for its outstanding growth and subsequently winning the 2016 Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

The fund has also helped other businesses succeed on the public markets after Manchester molecular diagnostics company Premaitha listed on AIM in 2014, along with Evgen, the Liverpool-based clinical drug development company, which was also admitted to AIM last year.

The fund stopped investing in the rest of the North West at the end of 2015, and will cease investment into Merseyside as of June 30, 2016 and Maylor said it’s focus is now to now support the portfolio through to the realisation stage.

He told TheBusinessDesk that it expects exit a number of businesses over the next 12 months, with a significant annoucement expected within the next few weeks.

Maylor said: “Reaching this milestone is a fantastic achievement for The North West Fund and caps off a period of great success for the organisation and the management teams we work with.

“Our funding and strategic guidance has enabled businesses to expand into new markets, create additional jobs, along with developing new and existing products. I am certain that these success stories will continue to have a positive impact on the North West economy for many years to come.”

The North West Fund provided debt and equity funding from £25,000 to £2m to small and medium sized enterprises based in, or relocating to, the North West and is backed by the European Regional Development Fund and European Investment Bank.

The fund was unable to provide TheBusinessDesk with information on exit values or return on investment at the time of asking.