Initiative is providing major cash injections to boost the digital sector

A funding scheme established in September last year is celebrating six months of providing funds to enhance Leeds City Region’s position as the UK’s “digital heartland”.

#Grow was launched in September 2019 by Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (the LEP) at Halifax Digital Festival. Since then funds have been allocated to businesses within the digital and creative sectors operating within the region.

The fund provides eligible businesses with a 50% contribution towards a capital expenditure project, up to a total of £50,000 and to date, has facilitated total project costs of £1.2m, with an approved contribution of £377,472.

Through #Grow the LEP has been able to support more than 14 businesses, which are creating a total of 58 jobs. This equates to a cost per job of £6,500, which is an improvement on the standard benchmark of £12,500.

Roger Marsh, chairman of Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership and NP11, said: “This is an exciting time for Leeds City Region and we are committed to optimising growth, particularly in this sector.

“The take-up of the #Grow initiative is extremely positive and we’re reaching a broad range of businesses across the sector. This will enable the life-cycle of business growth, job creation and retain talent in the region.”

Among the enterprises to have benefited to far is True Vision Yorkshire, a multi-award-winning documentary production company, situated in Farsley. The company produces and edits a range of factual programmes, including landmark series and singles for Channel 4 and the BBC.

True Vision was awarded a grant of £47,500 in October 2019, which will enable it to deliver greater volume and higher quality productions. This includes taking on additional office space and developing three self-contained edit suites to provide the hard-drive storage to meet demand.

In addition to this, the company is growing from five full time employees to 17 by the end of 2021. New roles include development researcher and production co-ordinator.

Anna Hall, creative director and co-founder at True Vision Yorkshire, said: “In the past five years we’ve gone from strength-to-strength and last year we received investment from Channel 4’s ‘Indie Growth Fund’, which is testament to this.

“The fact they recognised the potential in our team is fantastic and will enable us to develop as a business. The funding we’ve received from #Grow will now help us consolidate further and cement our position as a key player in the TV production industry, as well as supporting the existing eco-system and developing talent across Leeds City Region.’’

Another beneficiary of #Grow is Powerhouse, a company of creative production experts, which partners with agencies and brands to deliver high-end visual content on a variety of briefs.

The firm received £49,956 to support growth opportunities in video production, win new clients and to take advantage of opportunities presented by Channel 4. This investment will support the growth of the business to buy camera, editing and production equipment and will also create five more job roles.

Neil Adams, managing director of Powerhouse, said: “The LEP have been really supportive of our growth plans and have made the entire application process for #Grow seamless.

“This support will see us build on what we’ve established in our 20 years of business to update, improve and supplement our equipment to enable us to deliver more work, more efficiently for all of our clients as well as giving us the capacity to serve new clients.”

The digital sector is worth £1bn to the region’s economy and is forecast to increase 10% in the next five years – ten times the rate of the growth of other sectors.

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