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November 08, 2013

Business Bank kicks off with funds of £45 million

Business Bank kicks off with funds of £45 millionVince Cable has unveiled the first funding allocation from the British Business Bank's investment programme as part of a wider GREAT Britain campaign to help small firms grow.

The business secretary announced that the first £45 million of funding is to be committed to Praesidian Capital Europe (£30 million) and BMS Finance (£15 million) to provide debt finance of approximately £125 million through their respective new funds. Both funds are expected to start lending to small firms in early 2014, once legal terms are agreed.

In addition to this, Vince Cable also set out other measures that will provide support to small businesses. These include:

  • a new £1 million Sector Mentoring Challenge Fund that will enable firms to benefit from support from experienced business people in their own sector;
  • a £10 million synthetic biology start up fund from the Biotechnology and Biological Science Research Council (BBSRC) to help entrepreneurial scientists get their businesses off the ground.

Vince Cable also revealed that the Growth Accelerator scheme has already helped almost 10,000 firms. A new business support website – www.greatbusiness.gov.uk – will now make it easier for SMEs to access services such as the Manufacturing Advice Service and the National Apprenticeship Service as well as Growth Accelerator.

Matthew Hancock, skills and enterprise minister, said: "Government has an important role in providing a coherent package of measures to support businesses, but there is also a role for business-to-business support, with successful, growing small businesses talking to others about how exporting, hiring and business planning can take a business to the next level."

In December, a cross-government strategy on small business support will be published. The strategy will be aimed at small businesses with the ambition to grow, setting out how it will make it easier for them to do so through a range of measures, including improving access to finance and help to export and innovate.

Image: bisgovuk on Flickr. From left: Matthew Hancock, Vince Cable, John and Ced Wells of AJ Wells.

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