The new South West Investment Fund is launched!

If you’re an existing SME or new startup in the South West and you need some capital to give your business a boost, then the recent launch of the South West Investment Fund (SWIF) is very good news indeed!

This is the first in a new series of Nations and Regions Investment Funds that is being introduced by the British Business Bank (BBB) – delivering a £200 million commitment of funding to the area – and its aim is to drive sustainable economic growth by supporting innovation and creating local opportunity for new and growing businesses.

The SWIF has been split into two, with one fund covering the north of the region; including Gloucester, South Gloucester, Bristol, Bath, North Somerset and Wiltshire, and another fund covering the Great South West; comprising of Cornwall, Dorset, and the Heart of the South West.

Each fund covers a range of commercial finance options with loans from £25,000 to £2 million, and equity investment of between £150k and £5 million.

In the south, the fund is managed by the FSE Group for equity and debt, and SWIG for small loans. FSE has been managing the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Fund for the BBB, and SWIG delivers StartUp Loans for BBB. Both FSE Group and SWIG are keen to speak to all SMEs in the region that want to raise funding.

Investing in a brighter future

Not only is this new fund aimed at businesses who may find investment from other sources challenging to near-impossible, it also has an embedded Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) into its design and will support the UK economy’s transition to net zero.

Different funding options

There are three types of funding on offer: smaller loans (from £25,000 - £100,000); debt finance (from £100,000 - £2 million) and equity finance (of between £150k and £5 million). Each option can help different types of businesses that are at different stages of development so it’s worth checking out which one may be best suited for you. To read more about this, head over to https://www.british-business-bank.co.uk/nations-and-regions-investment-funds/south-west-investment-fund-swif/.

If you want to know more about your funding options in the region, the HotSW Growth Hub offers support to all sectors in the Somerset and Devon region. https://www.heartofswgrowthhub.co.uk/

Are you excited about the new SWIF? Answer in the comments