Maven Capital Partners has hailed an “important milestone” as it celebrates £60m of investment in North West businesses from NPIF – Maven Equity Finance which is part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.
Appointed by the British Business Bank in February 2017 to manage the North West equity fund for NPIF, Maven’s focus has been investing in innovative and fast growth businesses across the region.
Since the Fund’s launch, Maven has invested in 69 businesses across the region, including Greater Manchester, Liverpool, Lancashire, Cheshire & Warrington, and Cumbria.
Equity funding from NPIF – Maven Equity Finance has enabled ambitious entrepreneurs, innovators and business leaders to grow their businesses further and faster. This is by helping them to enter new markets, launch new products, expand their customer base, boost employee numbers and capitalise on market opportunities.
The investment, which has been deployed across a range of high growth companies, has created more than 1,000 new jobs. It has played its part in supporting the local economy and strengthening employment opportunities across the region.
Success stories for the Fund include Mojo Mortgages, a Macclesfield based fintech business which was sold to RVU, owner of the well-known consumer comparison sites Confused.com, Money.co.uk and Uswitch.
Funding has also seen Lancashire-based Relative Insight increase its annual recurring revenues by more than 180 per cent since 2019, and recently raised a further £5m through a Series B funding round.
Orka Technology Group also benefited from the Fund. The Manchester-based start up has grown at pace and gone on to raise more than £30m in funding since it was launched in 2017.
Alex Rothwell, senior investment manager at Maven, said: “We are proud to have played a key role in supporting SMEs in the North West by delivering equity investment from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund and see so many businesses thrive and grow from the investments made to date.”
Sean Hutchinson at the British Business Bank said: “Maven has done a fantastic job supporting an array of high-growth businesses in the North.
“Over the past five years, NPIF – Maven Equity Finance has been providing organisations with the financial tools needed to kickstart their business. The work completed to date has been instrumental in bringing prosperity across the region, driving high levels of economic activity and creating new jobs in the region.”
Ryan Bevington, partner at Maven, added: “Looking ahead, we have an exciting couple of years ahead because of the government’s decision to extend NPIF until at least 2023.
“Whilst we have invested £60m to date, we have up to £96m of equity finance in total available to businesses across the North West and therefore we’ll be embarking on many more growth journeys with ambitious businesses to help them fulfil their true potential.”