A Bath landscape and garden design business has become one of the first to benefit from a new £200m regional investment fund.
Viridis Landscapes, which launched in 2020 by experienced landscaper Jemma Smallman, pictured, has received £26,000 from the South West Investment Fund to fund a full time project manager.
The deal is one of a number made by the fund in its first six months. In total it has completed £2.4m of debt and equity investments in businesses across the region.
After successfully growing Viridis, Jemma had to take stock of where she was heading in the light of rising material costs, bouts of bad weather and the day-to-day work involved with running a business.
She knew she had to recruit an extra pair of hands and so applied for a loan from the fund through its appointed fund manager SWIG Finance, which enabled her to take on Nathan King as her full-time project manager.
Nathan now looks after the site work, leaving Jemma to get on with what she does best – creating and maintaining beautiful gardens. She can also devote the time she needs to looking after the financial and administrative side of things.
Jemma said the investment had made a real difference to the business..
“It had been stressful with one thing and another but having that extra office help has turned the business round really well,” she added.
“The loan was so easy to apply for. I had looked around at other places before I was put in touch with SWIG Finance but the processes just didn’t seem as positive.
“Other loan companies or schemes just didn’t seem to do all of the background checks or look at the business in as much depth as SWIG Finance did.
“With them, I felt like they wanted to get to know you and the business. For me it was much more personal.
“I would recommend any young business to apply for a small loan with the South West Investment Fund, especially at the moment with the way things are – it’s a bit of a minefield out there.”
The government-backed fund was launched in July by the British Business Bank to boost the supply of finance to small and medium-sized businesses throughout the South West.
It has since completed its first equity investment – £500,000 in tech-led commercial waste and recycling business Binit – as well as a range of debt funding deals from £26,000 up to £500,000.
SWIG Finance managing director John Peters said the fund was already having a positive impact.
“We’re continuing to experience high demand and want to support as many viable small businesses as we can, from all corners and communities in our region,” he said.
The South West Investment Fund was the first in a series of six new Nations and Regions Investment Funds to be launched by the British Business Bank, the government-owned business development bank.
The fund is managed by a team of four fund managers appointed by the British Business Bank – SWIG Finance, FW Capital, Maven and the FSE Group.
