£15m creative fund ‘could attract firms to region’
A new £15m fund for creative and digital businesses in the North West could encourage businesses to invest in Merseyside, its managers say.
The £185m North West Fund (NWF) was launched this week to provide venture capital and loan funding to existing and start-up businesses across the whole region.
It includes a £15m fund dedicated to the digital and creative industries.
That pot will be managed by AXM Venture Capital, which will open an office in Merseyside and another in Manchester to administer the fund.
AXM aims to secure more investment capital from sources including banks and pension funds.
NWF chief executive Andy Leach says he believes companies from elsewhere in the UK could be tempted to move to the North West to take advantage of the funding available.
There are two other sector-specific funds – a £25m biomedical fund and a £20m energy and environmental fund.
Mr Leach said: “Funds traditionally tend to be either regional or sectoral, but very seldom are they both. This is both, which is interesting and innovative.
“These three sectors are ones in which there are already skills and expertise in the region. There are growth opportunities for them over the next few years.
“Particularly for digital and creative, there are some fairly obvious drivers, such as the BBC coming to Salford and the strength of the gaming sector in the North West, which is particularly strong in Liverpool.
“We also see potential in the fact that these are three transportable sectors – people can move around.
“If there’s a fund in the North West, and there is expertise in these sectors in the region, then if you’re a business based in the Midlands or the North East you might well be attracted to come and develop your business in the North West.
“Those factors – expertise and capital – could have a lot of pull for businesses looking to develop in the North West in coming years.”
NWF will be ready to receive applications for funding between July and August this year.
Mr Leach said the creation of the fund would encourage more investors and business advisers to focus their attention on the creative industries. “We are trying to create a legacy,” he said. “It’s a commercial investment, and we’re looking to deliver commercial returns. That will create a legacy in financial terms.
“But we also want to see a broader legacy than that. It’s about expertise and skills, and developing networks.
“The fund itself will generate co-investors, managers, non-executive directors and advisers. It’s building a virtuous circle.”
The overall £185m fund will be the biggest of its kind in the UK.
More than £70m – around 40% – of the fund will be ringfenced for Merseyside.
NWF’s aim is to pull in a further £200m of private sector funding to match Brussels cash and create or safeguard up to 14,000 jobs by the end of 2015.
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