The South East Funding Fund is the newest regional scheme from the British Enterprise Financial institution (BBB) to help companies exterior of London.
The £210 million fund supplies loans from £25,000 to £2 million and fairness investments of as much as £5 million to SMEs in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Sussex, Surrey and Kent.
Its first funding was a £250,000 mortgage to Basingstoke know-how firm Course of Imaginative and prescient.
The South East of England is residence to 17% of the UK’s college spinout companies, behind solely London, whereas the area acquired 5% of the UK’s complete fairness funding by worth final yr.
The financial institution mentioned the fund will “assist to make sure the bridge between educational innovation and market deployment is satisfactorily supported within the area”.
David Hourican, incoming interim chief government officer of the British Enterprise Financial institution, commented:
“As we speak’s launch of The South East England Funding Fund will assist to stimulate financial developth all through the area.
“The South East of England is residence to among the UK’s most revolutionary technological and scientific companies and this fund will be certain that enterprise have native entry to the finance they should develop, scale and increase.’
Enterprise secretary Jonathan Reynolds mentioned:
“Small companies are the bedrock of our economic system and a significant a part of any excessive road, whether or not it’s a tech start-up in Surrey or a inventive company in Margate.
“Ensuring that smaller companies have the backing they should thrive is an important a part of creating good progress in each postcode.”
BBB additionally has funding funds for companies in Northern England, Wales, Northern Eire, Scotland, South West England and the Midlands.
An East of England Funding Fund will launch later this month.
