The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) has surpassed a significant milestone, facilitating the investment of more than £1 billion for businesses in the North of England, through £405m of direct and £613m private sector co-investment.
Launched in 2017 by the British Business Bank, NPIF provides commercially focused finance through its microfinance, debt and equity finance funds which offer financing ranging from £25,000 to £2m, specifically to help small and medium sized businesses secure the funding they need for growth and development.
To date, it has supported 1,188 companies through 1,636 investments and has also helped create over 7,900 jobs across the region. Businesses in Yorkshire and The Humber secured £451m of direct and private sector co-investment since the Fund launched in 2017.
The £1bn milestone follows the recent news that the British Business Bank will be launching a second Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF II) a £660 million investment fund to support the growth of small and medium-sized businesses across the North of England in early 2024. The current NPIF fund will continue to invest until the end of the year.
NPIF II is one of a series of new Nations and Regions Investment Funds being launched by the British Business Bank which will deliver a £1.6 billion commitment of new funding to drive sustainable economic growth.
Ken Cooper, Managing Director at British Business Bank, said: “The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund has enabled over a thousand small businesses in both traditional and new industry sectors to benefit from access to finance. The Fund has made an incredible impact, not only through its own investment, but in its ability to attract extra private sector co-investment, boosting regional business and creating new opportunities for local people.
“We are seeing a growing catalogue of success stories, with businesses we invested in several years ago now realising their full potential and further increasing the financial and economic impact of NPIF funding.”
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.