Finance Durham Fund bosses reveal £3.4 million investment at two-year anniversary

Bosses overseeing a business growth fund have marked its two-year anniversary by revealing the venture has invested £3.4 million since its launch.

Officials say the Finance Durham Fund has backed ten businesses to support their growth ambitions and created and secured more than 250 jobs.

Appointed by Durham County Council in May 2017, Maven Capital Partners manages the £20 million Finance Durham Fund, which was established by the authority and is overseen by Business Durham, the council’s economic development organisation.

Working with the local business support infrastructure, Maven provides investment capital to support the growth of innovative and ambitious businesses across a wide range of sectors through a variety of funding scenarios.

Maven has completed investments ranging from £40,000 to £2.7 million and has successfully leveraged an additional £5.2 million in private sector debt finance for local businesses.

Notable transactions include a £1.95 million investment in County Durham’s Dyer Engineering and a £1 million investment in water technology business G2O, based at NETPark, in Sedgefield.

Maven has also established an ‘Access to Finance’ programme, which, through a series of business clinics and workshops, assists entrepreneurs in developing an appropriate business structure and strategy to secure growth funding.

Michael Vassallo, investment director at Maven, said: “We are delighted the fund has reached such a significant milestone and that we have been able to support so many jobs across the county.

“Many of our transactions are fantastic examples of investors in the North East working together to provide local businesses with substantial funding packages to enable them to grow globally.

“We understand the importance of proactively providing local support – our investment team has considerable in-depth knowledge of the local SME market, allied to our national resource, and we are well-equipped to deliver comprehensive investor readiness training.”

Sarah Slaven, business development director, said: “It is great to look back on the range of companies and projects that have benefited from the Finance Durham fund over the last two years and are already creating jobs and investing further in the county.

“The fund is a key part of the wider package that Business Durham has available to make County Durham an attractive place to do business.

“We look forward to continuing to work with these companies and those who receive funding in the future.”

Councillor Carl Marshall, Cabinet member for economic regeneration at Durham County Council, added: “We are committed to supporting businesses to grow and achieve their ambitions.

“The Finance Durham Fund is a major part of this, and we’re delighted to be able to share such positive news as we mark two years since its inception.”