South West Investment Fund launch £200 million growth fund

The £200m South West Investment Fund, aimed at fostering growth and prosperity for small businesses across the region has been launched today by the British Business Bank.

This is a brand new pot of money offering financial support to SMEs across the region.
 
Highlights as follows… 

• The fund is aimed at fostering growth and prosperity for small businesses across the South West of England (covering Bristol, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Devon, Cornwall, Wiltshire and Dorset).
• The fund will provide early-stage finance for new and growing smaller businesses for expansion, product or service innovation, and new processes, skills or capital equipment.
• It will offer a range of commercial finance options with loans from £25,000 to £2 million and equity investment up to £5 million.
• The funding is sector agnostic.
• SWIG Finance will manage the smaller loans part of the fund, from £25,000 to £100,000, for the whole South West.
• FW Capital and FSE will manage the debt (£100k to £2 million) for the north and south of the region respectively.  This debt will be unsecured.
• Maven Capital Partners and FSE will manage the equity for the north and south of the region (up to £5 million) respectively.
• Applications for funding are made directly to the relevant fund managers who can be contacted via the SWIF website https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/nations-and-regions-investment-funds/south-west-investment-fund-swif/

It would be great to see some Gloucestershire businesses successfully securing funding in the next few months.