Businesses Get Growth Support Under New Programme Boosting Access To Investment

A programme to enable hundreds more Tees Valley businesses to secure funding to grow has been launched.

Tees Valley Securing Investment connects companies with finance, funds and private investors and breaks down barriers accessing money.

The scheme was launched at Middlesbrough FC’s Riverside Stadium on Thursday, 15 February.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “Our businesses in Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool are some of the finest in the country.

“Cutting bureaucracy and securing investment is at the heart of what we want to do. This will drive our ambition to bring good, well-paid jobs to local people and help our firms thrive.”

Siobhan McArdle, Chair of the Tees Valley Business Board, said: “It is essential that local businesses – and our SME community in particular – can access the right types of financing they need to grow.

“This programme increases the range of funding on offer to businesses through an Investor Hub, one-to-one support, workshops and online training.

“It is focused on improving the success rate across our business community in securing the investment they need to drive their business forwards, and so contribute to wider economic growth across the Tees Valley.”

Open to businesses and socially trading enterprises operating across the Tees Valley, Tees Valley Securing Investment is being delivered by innovation finance specialists and business support providers Innovation SuperNetwork, in partnership with Transmit Startups, CPI Enterprises & Edge Innovation.

Yvonne Gale, Board Director at Innovation SuperNetwork, said: “We know that businesses, especially start-ups and scale-ups, based outside of London and the South East find it harder to access the finance they need. To overcome this, we need more simplified and inclusive access to funding for businesses and entrepreneurs. Using our Investor Readiness Levels, we can help businesses understand how close they are to being able to approach investors, scope the landscape for a variety of funding sources and ensure they secure the finance that is right for them.”

Dr Sophie Dale Black, Director, UK Network – North of England at British Business Bank, said: ‘’The British Business Bank has been providing funds and support to businesses in the Tees Valley via our Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund for a number of years and we are delighted to support Tees Valley Securing Investment.”

The scheme has received £880,000 from the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) as part of the Tees Valley Mayor and Combined Authority’s UKSPF programme of support.

To find out more, go to: teesvalley-ca.gov.uk/securing-investment