The British Business Bank’s South West Investment Fund has driven almost £100m of investment into new and growing businesses across the region.
Launched in 2023, the £200m fund is increasing the supply and diversity of early-stage finance for smaller businesses across the whole of the South West, offering loans from £25,000 up to equity investment of £5m.
So far, the South West Investment Fund has delivered £51.8m of direct investment and leveraged an additional £48.1m from the private sector via 218 deals, with 203 businesses across the region receiving funding.
The Fund operates across the whole of the South West region including Bristol, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire.
“Hitting the £100m milestone is a great achievement for the South West Investment Fund and demonstrates the scale of impact it is having in the region,” says Mark Sterritt, senior director at the British Business Bank.
“With more than 200 businesses already supported, the Fund is backing innovation and ambition across a wide range of sectors.”
The Fund’s latest deal includes a £1.275m investment in Bath-based Eden Conveyancing via fund manager Maven Capital Partners.
Eden Conveyancing offers a fully digital conveyancing platform that aims to transform the residential property transaction process by blending expert legal insight with cutting-edge technology. Its MyEden platform centralises key elements of the transaction including documents, financials and communications into one secure hub.
The investment will allow the business to further scale its sales and marketing resource, create new jobs and expand its service and develop the platform. It will also support the growth of its partnership model with estate agents and mortgage brokers, including the launch of a new remortgaging service to build longer-term customer engagement.
“Eden have built a scalable and agile system with built-in automation, while its proprietary legal technology analyses property titles and streamlines conveyancing, making the process faster, more cost-effective and client friendly,” says Melanie Goward, partner at Maven.
“With the UK’s residential conveyancing market valued at £3.66bn, Eden is well positioned to scale.”
The South West Investment Fund is among a suite of Nations and Regions Investment Funds launched by the British Business Bank across the UK.