New £150 Million Scottish Funding Fund launched for SMEs 

The British Enterprise Financial institution is unveiling its groundbreaking £150 million funding fund for Scottish entrepreneurs right this moment, providing a major monetary increase to empower and elevate small companies.

The fund offers loans starting from £25,000 to £2 million and fairness investments of as much as £5 million, facilitating the expansion of those small and medium-sized enterprises, whether or not they’re simply beginning or scaling up.

The Funding Fund for Scotland stands because the first-ever UK government-backed funding initiative solely devoted to Scotland’s small companies, thus broadening the spectrum of early-stage monetary alternatives and empowering companies that will in any other case battle to safe funding.

The funding goals to help numerous enterprise actions, together with enlargement, innovation in services or products, the adoption of new processes, ability growth, and buying enterprise gear.

To supervise the fund, three completed fund managers have been appointed: 

• DSL Enterprise Finance will handle loans starting from £25,000 to £100,000
• The FSE Group will deal with bigger loans between £100,000 and £2 million, and 
• Maven Capital Companions shall be accountable for fairness offers as much as £5 million.

Louis Taylor, Chief Government of the British Enterprise Financial institution, expressed his enthusiasm, stating: “With this fund for Scottish companies, we hope to open doorways to new alternatives for a variety of smaller corporations trying to get began, develop, and develop throughout totally different sectors. 

We all know that entry to finance is a key concern for small companies and are dedicated to making sure that founders from all around the nation have the identical prospects by way of finance, irrespective of the place they’re primarily based.”

He provides: “Scotland is a nation of entrepreneurs and innovators, and up to date success tales from spin-outs and early-stage companies present that there’s large financial potential. We need to create native alternatives and generate an affect that spans past the fund, serving to to spice up productiveness, innovation, and employment.”

The Funding Fund for Scotland represents the second instalment in a collection of six new Nations and Areas Funding Funds launched by the British Enterprise Financial institution. This initiative follows the introduction of the South West Funding Fund in July, with a complete dedication of £1.6 billion to dismantle limitations to accessing finance.

Scottish Secretary Alister Jack praised the announcement, stating: 

“It is nice information that the British Enterprise Financial institution is launching its new £150 million Funding Fund for Scotland. This funding increase shall be massively necessary in giving smaller Scottish companies the funding they should develop. 

Scotland has some unbelievable enterprise success tales, and this new, further fund will assist create much more of them.”

One of many Scottish enterprises already benefiting from the British Enterprise Financial institution’s help is Elasmogen, a drug discovery firm primarily based in Aberdeen. Elasmogen obtained funding from British Enterprise Investments, a business subsidiary of the British Enterprise Financial institution, throughout an EIS funding spherical facilitated by Deepbridge Capital.

Professor Caroline Barelle, CEO of Elasmogen, shared her perspective on the funding: “As a therapeutic drug discovery firm, funding is essential for us to transform our know-how into medicines for sufferers. At Elasmogen, we’re growing antibody-like molecules (soloMERs) for autoimmune illness and most cancers.”

“The funding from the Financial institution enabled us to progress our focused soloMER-chemotherapy program into patient-derived research of triple damaging breast most cancers, demonstrating speedy tumour discount and regression. 

We have now since progressed and expanded this program right into a pipeline of first-in-class chemotherapy conjugated medicine, not solely validating our soloMER know-how however bringing us nearer in the direction of the clinic.”

Within the wake of this announcement, the British Enterprise Financial institution will conduct a collection of data roadshows aimed toward people concerned within the small enterprise finance ecosystem, together with enterprise companies, advisers, and accountants. 

The primary occasion is scheduled in Inverness on 31 October, adopted by a session in Edinburgh on 1 November. 

Extra places shall be coated within the new yr, with a web-based session scheduled for 7 November.

To search out out extra and apply for funding, go to: www.investmentfundscotland.co.uk.