The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) has directly invested over £300m into 952 businesses across the North of England, alongside an additional £400m of private sector co-investment, taking its total delivery to more than £700m.
Launched in 2017 to address market gaps and regional imbalances in access to finance, the milestone is a result of 1,280 investments into businesses across a range of size, sectors and locations spread widely across the NPIF region. In total, the Fund has provided £122m in equity finance, £162m in debt finance and £19m in microfinance.
The most active sector for NPIF investments to date has been advanced manufacturing, with support provided to companies working in a dynamic range of sectors, from renewable energy and ecommerce, to technology, media and telecoms and health and life sciences.
Recent success stories in the Fund’s portfolio include Manchester-based Summize, that has seen its team size increase by over 80% in 2021, following two investment rounds led by NPIF – Maven Equity Finance, which is part of NPIF and managed by Maven Capital Partners. With over 70 global clients including Vodafone, Fujifilm and Everton FC, the business is set to expand its team even further in 2022 and will continue to enhance the capabilities of the software.
Recent investments in the North West include a £250,000 investment by NPIF – FW Capital Debt Finance into The Rehab Physio, a specialist rehabilitation clinic based in Bromborough; a significant joint-funding round into Manchester-headquartered global Digital Adoption platform (DAP) provider AppLearn, led by NPIF – Maven Equity Finance; And a £70,000 loan to Liverpool-based nutritional snack company Nutry Nuts, from NPIF – BFS & MSIF Microfinance, managed by MSIF in partnership with GC Business Finance.
The news comes just three months after the Chancellor announced the next generation of NPIF in the latest Spending Review. £660m in government funding has been allocated to the British Business Bank for the launch of the next phase of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.
The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.
