A Cornish advanced engineering company that specialises in supplying innovative solutions for subsea and harsh environment applications has secured a £1 million growth loan from the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund (CIOSIF). 

Feritech Global Ltd, based near Falmouth, designs, manufactures and sells a market leading range of marine geotechnical equipment, ancillaries and consumables to a global market. Their customers are geotechnical and geophysical companies which operate across the marine sector in a variety of offshore operations. 

The company was recently named Exporter of the Year in the 2022 Cornwall Business Awards. 

CIOSIF funding will be used to increase the stock of technical equipment held by Feritech which is available to customers for lease and hire. This will enable the company to meet demand which has increased significantly. 

This upturn in business has been boosted by the launch of a new, Feritech Innovation Centre in April this year. This new facility will offer a full range of services including product design, fabrication, machining, electronics, electrics, embedded software, hydraulics and 3D printing services. It will be one of the leading facilities of its type in the UK. 

Rob Ferris, Managing Director and co-founder of Feritech, commented: “Launching our new facility was incredibly exciting and a culmination of many years hard work by our team. We were delighted to welcome HRH The Duke of Kent, along with other notable dignitaries, for a tour of our contemporary and eco-friendly site. This new innovation centre will give us space to grow as a business, by expanding our range of services, enabling us to win important new contracts, and providing new job opportunities in our local area. Our thanks to Tim and all at The FSE Group for facilitating this latest funding which will help us build our stock to fill our new facility and help us support our customers.” 

Tim Williams, Investment Manager at The FSE Group, added: “Feritech has customers in over 40 countries who require challenging geo-technical surveys. The company has a strong management team who have proven technical expertise and commercial skills. Supporting a local business which is rapidly growing and innovative is exactly what the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund is designed to do. We look forward to working with Rob and his team and supporting them on their growth journey.” 

The £40m Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Investment Fund provides debt and equity finance from £25,000 to £2 million to help growing small businesses across the region. It has been established by the British Business Bank in partnership with the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP). 

Ken Cooper, Managing Director at the British Business Bank said: “With exports accounting for 95% of turnover, Feritech is a global business with ambitions to expand into new territories this year. I’m delighted the fund is supporting this growth as they bring their innovation to some of the world’s most challenging engineering sectors.” 

John Acornley, LEP non-executive director and chair of the CIOSIF Advisory Board, said: “Feritech are a Cornish success story creating bespoke advanced engineering equipment for customers all over the world. With an eye on the future, they are already helping to meet the demands of new and fast-growing sectors like floating offshore wind, autonomous vehicles and space.” 

CIOSIF is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. 

For more information about the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Investment Fund including how to apply, please visit www.ciosif.co.uk  or follow the fund on Twitter at @CIOSIFBBB2