Mercia set to fuel Northern Powerhouse with £108m funding deal

Mark Payton, CEO of Mercia Technologies

Warwickshire specialist funder Mercia Technologies has successfully bid for the right to manage two of the British Business Bank’s new Northern Powerhouse Investment Funds.

The AIM-listed group focuses on the creation, funding and scaling of innovative technology businesses with high growth potential from the UK regions.

The successful bid came via its wholly-owned subsidiary, Enterprise Ventures.

Following a highly competitive procurement process managed by the BBB, the group has secured a total of £108.5m across two mandates; a £57.5m equity fund and a £51m debt fund.

The funds will be deployed via Mercia’s North of England offices, which will be focused primarily on investing in SMEs in Yorkshire, the Humber and Tees Valley regions, where the group already has a successful track record of supporting start-up and later stage companies that have high growth potential.  

Mercia said the new funding wins represented further strategic progress for the business. As a result of the two awards, Mercia has increased its third party funds under management by nearly 50% to over £336.5m, which over time will further increase the pipeline of potential direct investment opportunities for the group.
 
Mark Payton, CEO of Mercia Technologies, said: “We are delighted that, in a highly competitive field, the group has been selected to manage two Northern Powerhouse Investment Funds. The new funds are strongly aligned with Mercia’s ‘Complete Capital Solution’ and our strategic aim to invest in the UK’s underserved regions, supporting the next generation of businesses with high growth potential, where we are already very active.
 
“These two new funds will play a leading role in the development of innovative small businesses located in the North of England. The group is well placed to manage these new mandates having already delivered several notable successes for similar public and private funds, including Blue Prism Group, Optibiotix Health, Xeros Technology Group and Concepta.

“We are looking forward to working with the BBB on the successful delivery of these new mandates over the coming years.”
 
The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union, attracting investment from the European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020, and the European Investment Bank.

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