The Business Growth Fund (BGF), the UK’s most active provider of growth capital to small and mid-sized businesses, has celebrated its fifth anniversary by increasing its South West team.
Set up in May 2011 to fill a funding gap, BGF has since invested nearly £120m in 17 of the South West’s most ambitious companies, employing more than 2,200 people and generating revenues of £330m. 
Its investments in the region include Corsham and Farnborough-based Skyscape Cloud Services, a leading provider of cloud infrastructure services to the public sector; Devizes-based luxury kitchens designer and manufacturer Canburg (which includes Smallbone of Devizes and Mark Wilkinson); and Trunki, the Bristol-based maker of ride-on suitcases and children’s travel products.
Following a busy 2015, BGF is expanding the size of its team in the South West and also recently opened a new office in Reading to accommodate demand for growth capital among small and mid-sized businesses in the Thames Valley.
BGF’s regional team has also completed its first successful exits – Devon-based specialist designer, developer and vendor of wireless for mobile telecoms Sub 10 Systems, and Intrapharm, a Maidenhead-based speialist pharma firm.
BGF’s birthday milestone follows its strongest ever quarter; nationally BGF invested more than £100m in the first three months of 2016 and is on course to pass £1bn in committed investments later this year.
BGF regional director Paul Oldham said: “Since we opened the doors of our Bristol office we have seen ever increasing demand from businesses across the South West, South Wales and the Thames Valley – a clear indicator that the entrepreneurial spirit in this corner of the UK is alive and well.
“We have been privileged to work with some of the region’s most dynamic companies, and BGF’s contribution has helped them grow. We look forward to meeting more entrepreneurs who can benefit from the funding and support we provide.”
