BGF announces record year of investing across the region
BGF has reported a record year of investing in Yorkshire and the North East in 2018 – providing £65m in patient capital for businesses in the region.
This includes £35m across five new investments and nearly £30m in follow-on funding for existing portfolio companies based across the region.
BGF’s team in Leeds has now invested more than £220m across 22 businesses in Yorkshire and the North-East since BGF was set up in 2011. As well as expanding into new offices at Platform in Leeds, the team opened an office in Newcastle and boosted its headcount across the region in 2018.
Richard Taylor, who heads up the Yorkshire and North East at BGF, said: “2018 saw another year in which we increased our investment activity across the region which is testament to the team we have in place and the ambition of the county. We also continued to hire into our Yorkshire office to provide strong foundations for continued growth.
“Of course, business owners are cautiously optimistic around uncertainty beyond Brexit, but we haven’t seen this translate into entrepreneurs putting growth plans on hold. We are pleased to be entering the new year with an encouraging pipeline and our focus in the region is to ensure that motivated companies are not forced to a standstill because of a lack of support or investment in 2019.”
Investments in 2018 included Arcinova, an innovative research and development organisation based in Alnwick and North East behavioural marketing company SaleCycle. In October, BGF announced a £5m investment into Yorkshire-based business vehicle rental platform, Fleetondemand.
BGF successfully exited Wear Inns in August 2018 as the business was acquired by Aprirose, a specialist UK real estate investor. Over the period that BGF was invested, Wear Inns expanded by acquiring 12 pubs to add to its estate.
