British Business Investments announces new £10m commitment to Co-Fund NI through Regional Angels Programme
British Business Investments, a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, has committed £10m to Co-Investment Fund (Co-Fund) NI helping to provide growth capital to early stage, high potential smaller businesses in Northern Ireland.
The £10m commitment has been provided through British Business Investments Regional Angels Programme and is the programme’s first commitment in Northern Ireland. Invest Northern Ireland has also provided £6.1m towards the funding uplift.
The new £16m combined investment will support the programme’s objective to address regional imbalances and diversify the availability of angel finance.
Co-Fund NI is part of Invest NI’s Access to Finance suite of loan and equity funds. The fund can provide co-investment in deals typically valued between £150,000 and £2m.
Judith Hartley, CEO, British Business Investments, said: “Our Regional Angels Programme is designed to address imbalances in access to early-stage capital across the UK. This £10m commitment to Co-Fund NI is the programme’s first commitment in Northern Ireland and will help provide long-term capital to smaller businesses with high growth potential. To date British Business Investments has committed £65 million through the Regional Angels Programme, providing early-stage capital to over 100 high growth smaller businesses across the UK.”
Kevin Holland, Invest NI’s CEO, said: “Co-Fund NI is one of 5 funds in our Access to Finance portfolio. It specifically provides support to early stage, high potential start-up companies. This combined funding will have a significant impact on the Northern Ireland economy at a critical time for high growth potential SMEs.
“We have committed over £6m to increase the fund and provide more businesses with the opportunity to get their innovative ideas out of the starting blocks. By securing further funding from British Business Investments Co-Fund NI will be able to support more companies to achieve their goals. Investments have already begun, with £2.5m invested across six early-stage and existing Co-Fund NI portfolio companies; Concept Apps, Sustain IQ, Respiratory Analytics, Cirdan Imaging, Axial3D and B-Secur.”
Brian Cummings, investment director, Clarendon Fund Managers, said: “As we approach our 20th year of investing in Northern Ireland’s ‘high growth potential’ business community, we are delighted to build on Invest NI’s Co-Fund NI programme by welcoming BBI as a new investment partner. This allows us to make more funding available to co-invest alongside business angels and other private investors providing companies with a strong mix of funding and expertise to accelerate businesses growth.”
Invest NI’s support is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund under the Investment for Growth & Jobs Northern Ireland (2014-2020) Programme.