Engineering firm Penso secures £2m funding deal for innovative new product
A Coventry engineering company is progressing an innovative new product for the rail industry after being backed by a £2m funding programme.
Penso, which is developing new lightweight composite doors for trains, has been backed by the new Rail Supply Growth Fund, managed by Finance Birmingham.
The funding package will help Penso to accelerate the production of the new doors, which the firm hopes will be a fixture of new generation London Underground trains, although the accreditation the design has achieved means it could be used on any rail network in the world.
Penso, which has previously been backed by Finance Birmingham for its work in the automotive sector, has only recently entered the rail sector and is using its in-house engineering and composite manufacturing capabilities to develop the new doors.
The new product is the first production-capable lightweight composite train door developed anywhere in the world. The doors will not only be significantly lighter but will also allow quicker door opening and closing times.
The £2m support package has enabled the firm to go from concept design to full production capability.
However, not only is the funding helping the firm’s product development, it will also mean the creation of jobs both directly and by supporting the local supply chain.
Jack Glonek, of Finance Birmingham, said: “We are really pleased to provide Penso with a further funding package that can support their ability to fast track the innovation and production of their new composite doors for trains.”
Chris Buckenham, Finance Director at Penso Group, added: “Finance Birmingham is able to support our business in a manner that matches the market opportunity. They understand our business and the challenging area of moving innovation and R&D through to commercial application.
“The provisions of flexible funding packages that are otherwise not generally available in the commercial debt market are extremely valuable to our business model of high investment and introduction of innovative technologies.”
The recently launched Rail Supply Growth Fund is supported by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). The fund provides flexible loans of £500k to £2m to enable both existing and new businesses in the rail supply sector to grow their capabilities and capacity and to help them win new business opportunities.
