An additional £16m in funding for investment in Northern Ireland SMEs is to be made available through Co-Investment Fund (Co-Fund) NI.
Many of Northern Ireland's early-stage SMEs with high growth potential have been part-funded through Co-Fund NI over the years, making it an important lifeline for our most promising tech start-ups. The fund is managed by Clarendon Fund Managers and provides equity investment alongside private investors to help firms raise the capital to rapidly scale up.
The fund is now getting an additional £16m to help support Northern Ireland SMEs. The funding is coming from a combined investment between Invest Northern Ireland and the Regional Angels Programme on behalf of the British Business Bank.
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Economy Minister Diane Dodds announced the new funding: "Local SMEs are the backbone of our economy and it is important that they can secure funding to grow. Co-Fund NI has been very successful in helping them to do this. Since 2011, it has supported over 70 companies, with over £29m of Invest NI funding and leveraging over £66m of private sector funds."
"The additional £16m funding will inject further investment capital into the Northern Ireland economy. The increase is expected to directly leverage additional funding of more than £20m from private investors over the next three years, opening up new growth opportunities for local businesses."
Early beneficiaries of the new funding include Concept Apps, Sustain IQ, Respiratory Analytics, Cirdan Imaging, Axial3D and B-Secur, which have benefitted from a combined £2.5m.
Source: Written based on press release
