European cash green light for Finance Yorkshire
VENTURE capital fund Finance Yorkshire is to start investing in businesses after finalising the regional £90m finance pot.
The fund, which recently opened its office at the Capitol Business Park in Barnsley, has been given the green light to begin investing after receiving the outstanding £45m of the total fund from the European Investment Bank.
Finance Yorkshire had already secured £45m from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and Yorkshire Forward.
Since a number of launch events held in March, the organisation’s fund managers have been dealing with enquiries and applications from companies.
The fund will be looking to provide seedcorn, loan and equity linked investments, ranging from £15,000 to £2m to help small and medium businesses in Yorkshire meet the gaps in funding they need for growth and development.
It will be invested over the four years to 2014.
Finance Yorkshire aims to create or safeguard almost 6,000 jobs and create £602m of gross value added for Yorkshire’s economy.
James Newman, chairman of Finance Yorkshire, said: “The confirmation of the European Investment Bank funding is terrific news for Yorkshire and the Humber and a significant boost for the local economy.
“At a time when finance and credit availability are being tightened, to have £90m available to support business growth and development is a real shot in the arm for many small and medium sized enterprises.
“We have received hundreds of applications from businesses during the last few weeks, but we continue to urge more companies, who are looking for finance to grow and develop to get in touch with us. We look forward to announcing our first investments very soon.”
The project is supported financially by the European Union. It has attracted £30m investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of Europe’s support for the region’s economic development through the Yorkshire and Humber ERDF Programme.
