SME Funding in Yorkshire

This is a report from the Press Association, published on Invest in Yorkshire website

£90m Yorkshire fund to be launched

Friday, 12 March 2010

Finance Yorkshire, a £90 million venture capital fund to aid small and medium sized enterprises in the region is being unveiled at the Leeds event at Aspire.

The fund, which will be launched by Rosie Winterton MP, minister for Regional Economic Development and Co-ordination, will be attended by key people of the region's business community.

It is expected to provide funds ranging between £15,000 and £2 million for start-ups and more established businesses from early Spring.

Yorkshire Forward will provide around half of the cash for the four-year project and the rest will come from the European Regional Development Fund and the European Investment Bank.

The latest £90 million fund will take over from South Yorkshire Investment Fund and Partnership Investment Finance funds, which have now completed their investment tenure.

The Leeds event is the first of a series of programmes to mark the start of the fund. This will be followed by launch events in Sheffield on March 16, Skipton on March 17, Scarborough on March 18, Hull on March 22, and York on March 24.

Representatives from Yorkshire Forward, members of Finance Yorkshire's board of directors, and Finance Yorkshire's seedcorn, business loan and equity teams will give presentations during the launch events.