Newcastle, England –- NStar, an innovative investment and enterprise development company working with One North East, announced today that it has launched a new phase in its programme to channel investment into the region's most exciting creative businesses. Up to 200 design and creative industry companies will be offered a free benchmarking and diagnostic report to assess demand for investment. These companies will then be in a strong position to pursue growth finance of up to £120,000 per company from a total round of £1.2 million from the NStar Design and Creative Fund. If demand proves strong, the scheme will be expanded over the next two years.
This next phase in the roll out of the Design and Creative Fund will be delivered by Creative Industries growth specialists Pembridge Partners LLP in collaboration with the North East’s regional screen agency, Northern Film and Media.
Mark Fenwick, Fund Manager for the Design and Creative Fund at NSTAR, said: “This programme will help every company that applies to move forward towards success. But the programme is just as much about inviting companies that may never have thought about seeking external investment to identify themselves. There’s a real recognition in the North East’s of the contribution that creative companies can make to delivering jobs and prosperity: the question we're trying to answer is how many are out there and how can we help?”
NStar is an innovative investment and enterprise development company, working within the regional economic development agenda. We are helping build dynamic and self-sustaining economies by encouraging small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) to reach their full potential. NStar works with national and regional governments, the European Commission, regional development agencies and private sector partners to encourage innovation and to provide entrepreneurs and SMEs with access to both finance and expertise.
The Design and Creative Fund is a new and innovative fund, the only one of its kind in the North East, focused on providing finance support and develop the design and creative industry sector. The creative industries are the largest and fastest growing part of the UK economy. The Design and Creative Fund aims to develop and progress early stage ideas into attractive business prospects. Investments from the fund will help business ideas and projects through their riskiest stages, and aims to take them on to attract further funding. These are not grants, they are convertible loans and all applicants must have a keen eye on their market and their potential to succeed commercially. Finance can be used to invest in physical assets and expand management teams as well as for research and development. Applications are welcome from brand new businesses, those at an early stage and more mature companies, as long as they have an idea that will help them expand or diversify the region’s design and creative industries base. The loans will be in the region of £60,000, but additional funding is available in the case of an exceptional application, or where follow on funding is required. The Fund is particularly encouraging applicants with high growth strategies and have a clear vision of potential exit strategy.
Hugh Mason, a founding partner at Pembridge Partners LLP, said: “As investors, we’ve worked in the North East now since 2003. Look around and the success of companies like Sage shows that there’s world-class entrepreneurship here. All our experience is that this programme will encourage a new generation of creative business people – the dragon’s den generation - to connect with sources of investment and growth and that has to be good for the North East.”
Tom Harvey, Chief Executive of Northern Film and Media, said: "This initiative means the Design and Creative Fund is set to bring real benefits to all the companies that engage with it. It's a genuine invitation for businesses with a real urge to grow to make themselves known and to compete for the investment needed to go on and be all they can be.”
Companies seeking to engage with the Design and Creative Fund can do so online. Every eligible business applying will receive an individual diagnostic and benchmarking report, free of charge, in a process that simply requires them to submit their last two years accounts and go through a 25 minute phone profiling interview, in confidence and at a time that suits them.
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