The British Business Bank has launched its new Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II). A £660 million fund set to cover the entire North of England, it aims to build on the success of the initial fund and drive sustainable economic growth ‘by supporting innovation and creating local opportunity for new and growing businesses across the North’.

NPIF II will ‘increase the supply and diversity of early-stage finance’ for smaller Northern businesses, by providing funds to firms that might otherwise not receive investment and ‘thereby help to break down barriers in access to finance’.

Providing loans from £25,000 to £2 million and equity investment up to £5 million, the Fund will continue investing in companies operating within the North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, and Tees Valley, but is now expanded to include the whole of the North East –– thereby enabling businesses across the whole of the North to access the Fund ‘to start up, scale up, or continue on their growth journey’. Since the launch of the first Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund in 2017, over £1 billion of direct and private sector co-investment has been facilitated to businesses.

Louis Taylor (pictured), the British Business Bank’s chief executive, said: “The success of the first Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund has proven the instrumental change that access to finance can have for small businesses. From creating hundreds of jobs to developing groundbreaking products, we have seen companies that previously lacked funding options accelerate in their growth journeys, which has ultimately benefitted the whole of the Northern economy.

“This is why it was important to continue the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund into its next phase. With further funding available, and a greater geographical reach in the North East, the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II will engage more stakeholders across the regions, bringing the business community closer together to create more opportunities for entrepreneurs everywhere.”
Following the official launch in Leeds, the British Business Bank will be holding a ‘roadshow of events’ for small-business finance intermediaries in the region to provide more information about the Fund. Destinations include: Newcastle (18 April); Manchester (24 April), and Sheffield (30 April). Further dates for roadshow events in Liverpool, Hull, Lancashire, Tees Valley, York, Cheshire, Durham, Cumbria and Northumberland are to be announced (www.british-business-bank.co.uk).