Avon Valley Precision Engineering, based in Bitton, near Bath, is one of the first firms to receive funding under the West of England Growth Fund initiative.
The firm, which supplies parts to major aerospace firms such as Rolls-Royce, Airbus and GKN, has been awarded £233,000 for capital investment in machinery and property to expand its operation.
It now plans to expand into an adjacent building and buy new machinery with the ambition of doubling its turnover.
Managing director Mark Summers said: “Without the funding from the LEP we would have found it very difficult to generate enough funds for this expansion.
“It’s given us a springboard to where we want to be, which is doubling our turnover within the next couple of years.
“The programme and the process is excellent – nice and straightforward and without too much bureaucracy.”
The West of England Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) hopes to give out £25m to SMEs over the coming weeks under its growth fund initiative, which aims to help firms looking to create or safeguard jobs.
More than 400 companies have expressed interest in the scheme which offers funding of between £10,000 and £1m for training schemes, cash investments or research and development. The deadline for submissions is the end of July.
LEP chief executive Paul Wilson said: “We are thrilled that the first firms have started to benefit from the fund.
“This is a great opportunity and we want as many businesses as possible to benefit from the scheme. We have £25m to share out between businesses and we are keen for as many firms as possible to take advantage of this unique opportunity.”
