News

Following the recent launch of the £40million Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly Investment Fund by the British Business Bank, the appointed fund manager, The FSE Group, is now delighted to introduce the full team that will be managing the fund.

The new Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund (CIOSIF) will provide loan and equity funding between £25,000 and £2million to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to facilitate growth. The FSE Group was appointed to manage the fund following an open tender process and will be working with local partners, SWIG Finance, to deliver the investments.

The FSE Group’s CIOSIF team will be led by Stuart Nicol. Stuart has more than 20 years investment experience which includes key investment roles at Crowdcube, Octopus Investments and YFM.  At Octopus Stuart oversaw £110m of funds, with over 1,600 potential investments reviewed under his management. At Crowdcube he supported the company’s rapid growth from 12 to 80 staff with over £100 million raised for more than 100 businesses. Stuart brings an established network of relationships with venture investors and a reach that extends across sectors including creative, health tech, aerospace and renewables.

Ralph Singleton joins Stuart as senior fund manager for equity investment. Ralph has been working for FSE since 2015 and will be relocating to join the Cornwall team. He has over 30 years investment experience and is skilled in finding NEDs and advisors to help investee companies maximise their potential as well as helping them attract co-investment.  Ralph has closed six equity transactions within the last 18 months, leveraging sizable co-investment from FSE’s own business angel network, which he will look to replicate with CIOSIF.

The senior fund manager for loans is Tim Williams. Tim has over 16 years banking experience across the South West – nine of them based in Truro serving the Cornish SME community.  Most recently Tim has been a relationship manager for Lloyds, responsible for the management of SME clients in the £1-10million turnover range. During his career to date, Tim has supported over 120 SMEs across the Cornwall and Isle of Scilly region and gained an expansive network of introducer contacts.

Completing the FSE team will be Meg Salt in fund management and Brent Treloar in business development. Meg comes with over 10 years banking experience within Clydesdale Bank, most recently as a director in corporate and structured finance and previously within large corporate and acquisition finance roles. Brent has been involved in advisory, innovation and programme management services in the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly for more than 25 years and has extensive SME, funder & advisor contacts across the region. He joins the team from University of Plymouth where he has been helping to identify businesses with innovation potential.

The FSE team brings its experience and expertise in SME lending and equity investing, which will be complemented by the addition of SWIG Finance as a delivery partner. Active in the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly SME lending market for almost 30 years, SWIG Finance is the leading provider of alternative business loans across the area. The SWIG Finance team has an extensive network of local introducer and partner relationships and will work on the delivery of CIOSIF loans between £25,000 and £250,000, whilst the FSE team will focus on lending above £250,000 along with all equity investing.

SWIG Finance has recruited business manager Mike Wall to help deliver the CIOSIF fund. Mike has 40 years’ experience in personal and commercial lending, including 28 years at Barclays in Cornwall. John Peters, MD at SWIG Finance, says: “I am very excited that SWIG is working with The FSE Group, the appointed CIOSIF Fund Manager, in delivering smaller business loans as part of the £20m allocation for debt finance. Mike will, I’m sure prove to be a valuable addition to our team.”

Stuart Nicol, Head of Funds, Cornwall at The FSE Group, says: “CIOSIF is providing local businesses with a fantastic opportunity to be ambitious in their plans for growth.  With this high calibre team we are ready to make a real difference to the SME funding landscape across Cornwall and Isles of Scilly and are looking forward to completing our first deal.”

Ken Cooper, MD, British Business Bank, welcomed the team saying: “It’s great to see The FSE Group appointing a dedicated and experienced team to manage the CIOSIF fund.  Local SMEs will now be able to benefit from the skills and experience of this team when seeking the investment and advice that will help them meet their growth ambitions.”

CIOSIF is a £40million initiative to support economic prosperity across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.  Aimed at both early stage and more established businesses, the fund provides loans and equity investment between £25,000 and £2million to eligible companies that demonstrate the potential for high growth.  CIOSIF is financed by the European Regional Development Fund, CIOS Local Enterprise Partnership and HM Government and is delivered by the British Business Bank through appointed fund manager The FSE Group. The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund project 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.

Open Blend, the creators of a pioneering solution to the work life balance dilemma have secured £100,000 from the Thames Valley Berkshire Expansion Loan Scheme, which is managed by The FSE Group. The Maidenhead based company has developed an online coaching tool that enables staff and managers to focus on key drivers, wellbeing and performance. Open Blend CEO & Co-Founder Anna Rasmussen explains, “By including wellbeing in every one-to-one meeting people are encouraged to improve their work life balance, known internally as their blend. In fact, the platform turns traditional one-to-ones into coaching sessions, meaning that staff are regularly looked after by their employers rather than merely expected to work their way through tasks and activities.” The tool enables individuals to select 8 key drivers that are important both at work and at home. These then become the focus of conversations to motivate and encourage engagement and productivity. The platform technology is intuitive and easy to use, enabling managers to understand an individual’s key drivers in both a work and home context, and providing an accurate picture of their happiness, confidence and ability to manage stress. Robust coaching frameworks within the platform then support managers to have coaching led-conversations with their team members, creating actions and objectives to help them move from where they are now, to where they want to be. Ian Baker, Senior Fund Manager at The FSE Group which manages the TVB Expansion Loan Scheme on behalf of Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), comments, “The platform that Anna and her team have created is incredibly beneficial to not just the businesses using it, but also for the wellbeing and career development of the employees. Open Blend have already built a strong portfolio of clients from a wide variety of sectors including financial services, insurance, media, travel, broadcasting, FMCG and recruitment, which indicates the strong versatility of their product. We are looking forward to working with the team at Open Blend and wish them all the success for the future.” TVB Expansion Loan Scheme is part of TVB Funding Escalator, an £11.3m initiative funded by Thames Valley Berkshire LEP. The escalator, which also includes a Trade Finance Loan Scheme and a Growth Equity Fund, provides eligible companies with loans and equity funding between £25,000 and £300,000 for activities that will deliver high-growth and employment opportunities.

Following a period of growth and product integration, TurfTrax has secured £50,000 from The East of England Regional Growth Loan Scheme (RGLS), managed by Finance East.

TurfTrax products, headed by the GoingStick, continue to support the UK sports and leisure industry through the development and operation of weather systems, pioneering ground management technology and a data analysis platform. TurfTrax’s suite of products combine to help customers to create and implement effective turf management and maintenance programmes and to monitor in real time the key environmental factors affecting the success of an event.

The GoingStick, which delivers an objective scientific measurement of ground conditions, was developed for the UK horseracing industry where it is a requirement at all turf courses and has since been adopted by customers around the world for thoroughbred horseracing and other equestrian applications. The funding will be used to further develop TurfTrax technologies and to support the launch of MezureIT, a new data platform for leisure services providers and venues where accurate and imminent weather data can be used to drive sales and dictate customer movement and flow. The expansion will generate two new positions.

TurfTrax Managing Director Mike Maher said: “International interest in our products continues to increase with Australia being a particular area of growth for us. This funding will ensure we remain state-of-the-art and that the operational side of our business is able to satisfy demand.”

Stuart Ager, Senior Fund Manager at Finance East comments: “TurfTrax first approached us for funding in 2013 and we are delighted to continue our working relationship with them.  The success of the company and uptake from the horse racing sector is extremely encouraging. We look forward to helping the company realise its growth ambitions and wish them all the success for the future.”

The RGLS is managed by Finance East, part of The FSE Group, on behalf of Local Enterprise Partnerships in the East of England and British Business Bank. The RGLS is available to established, incorporated businesses based within the East of England that have a minimum annual turnover of £100k, show strong growth potential and have a medium to long-term funding requirement to deliver that growth.

UserReplay has been providing innovative software solutions for e-commerce since 2009 and is continuing its journey to growth with further support from Thames Valley Berkshire (TVB) Funding Escalator. The Theale based company provides large businesses that have a strong online sales presence, with a tool to analyse user movement throughout their websites, helping to identify the cause of abandoned baskets and subsequent lost revenues.  As ecommerce continues to expand, there is an increased focus on making sure online interactions are efficient and productive. As such, the global market for Application Performance Management software is growing significantly and this rise is set to continue over the next few years. The FSE Group, which manages TVB Funding Escalator on behalf of Thames Valley Berkshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), has been working with UserReplay since 2013, making equity investments from both South East Seed Fund and TVB Growth Fund. During this time the company has continued to expand, including establishing a base in the US where it is making significant sales. The FSE Group is now providing debt finance of £200,000 from TVB Expansion Loan Scheme to accelerate marketing activity, along with further technology development, to take full advantage of the market opportunity. Ruth Peters, UserReplay CEO, comments: “The support we have received from The FSE Group has been vital to the growth of our business; since the initial FSE investment we have refined and improved our product offering so it meets the needs of our clients and this latest loan will ensure we continue to do this in line with ever-evolving ecommerce market.” Ian Baker, Senior Fund Manager at The FSE Group, adds: “With client renewal rates at over 92%, UserReplay are clearly providing a competitive and sought-after product. The opportunities are significant and we are delighted to again be working with this experienced and impressive team to help them achieve their growth potential.” The Thames Valley Berkshire Funding Escalator is a £8.3m initiative funded by the Thames Valley Berkshire LEP. The escalator includes an Expansion Loan Scheme, Trade Finance Loan Scheme and a Growth Equity Fund, which provides eligible companies with loans and equity funding between £25,000 and £250,000 for activities that will deliver high-growth and employment opportunities.

A West Sussex food firm looking to gain a bigger slice of the pastry market with its award-winning pies has secured £125,000 from the Coast to Capital (C2C) Expansion Loan Scheme to scale-up production and expand into the wholesale market.

Midhurst based Mud Foods has been producing top quality pies, made from locally sourced ingredients, for almost a decade. The business has grown steadily during that time with the majority of sales coming from regular attendance at local farmers’ markets across the South East, supplemented with some wholesale trade.

Both avenues now offer expansion opportunities, as Mud owner, Christian Barrington, explains: “At the moment we produce around 5,000-6,000 Mud pies and sausage rolls each week, which allows us to attend a number of regular weekend markets and fulfil some wholesale orders. Sales have grown steadily year on year and we know there is potential to build this further but our current production facilities are at full capacity. With this latest funding we will be able to increase capacity and more actively target the wholesale market.”

The £125,000 will be used to rearrange the existing unit and install additional cooking/freezing equipment, increasing production to around 15,000 pastry items per week. This will also enable the company to diversify its offering by adding sweet pies to the Mud Foods range. Jeff Dober, Head of SME Debt Funds at The FSE Group, which manages the C2C Expansion Loan Scheme on behalf of C2C Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), comments: “Annual UK pie and pastry sales are at almost £1billion and by using only real butter in the pastry, meat from The Goodwood Estate and vegetables from other local farms, Mud Foods has gained a loyal following and carved itself a niche at the premium end of the market. The management team has now identified a significant growth prospect and we are delighted to support them in achieving the increase in production capacity necessary to take advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead.”

The Coast to Capital Expansion Loan Scheme is part of the Coast to Capital Funding Escalator, a £5million initiative funded by Coast to Capital LEP. The escalator, which also includes a growth equity fund, provides eligible companies with loans and equity funding between £50,000 and £500,000 for activities that will deliver high-growth and employment opportunities across the Coast to Capital region.