Re-launch of Finance East

Community Interest Company opens up new funding sources for companies in the East.

Finance East and Finance South East have re-launched under a single name "The FSE Group" - as an independent community interest company (C.I.C.) with a growing range of funds and services for companies, communities and social enterprises in the East.
The FSE Group's award winning team delivers a range of debt and equity growth finance solutions and support to innovative SMEs. With approximately 40m funds under management, the team, recognised as Best Early Stage Investment Team by the British Business Angel Association (BBAA) in 2009, has invested over 6m in companies in the East of England over the last three years.

From its office in East Anglia (Ipswich), The FSE Group manages four funding vehicles exclusively geared to companies in the East:

The East of England Regional Growth Loan Scheme provides a debt facility to high growth companies based in the East of England. Loans of between 50k and 200k are available for revenue generation companies with annual turnover of at least 500k.

The East of England Business Angel Co-Investment Loan Scheme is designed to offer a flexible loan to unlock business angel investment. The facility is provided on the basis of a minimum 60% business angel investment to 40% co-investment loan split of the total funding requirement. Investments range from 50k to 125k.

The Suffolk Investor Club (SIC): is managed by the FSE Group and supported by Suffolk County Council. Regular meetings present early-stage, high-growth companies from the East of England with an opportunity to pitch to business angels.

The Bedford Business EIS Fund: enables locally-based investors to collaborate together to invest in a portfolio of high growth potential businesses within the Bedfordshire area via the tax-efficient mechanism of an EIS Fund.

However, in addition to these local and regional funding sources, the Group offers a number of other national funding schemes which businesses in the East are eligible to apply for:

The Community Generation Fund: a national fund to support community-based renewable energy projects.

The Social Impact Co-Investment Fund: loans of 25k-100k to SMEs anywhere in the UK, which primarily operate with a social purpose. Business angel matched funding required.

Commenting on the changes, Sally Goodsell, Chief Executive said:

"Our new independent C.I.C. status affords us greater freedom to expand, with a compelling combination of local, regional and national funds and services. We are working with a range of partners from both the public and private sectors to create and deliver new funding schemes to support business growth. At a time when fundraising is increasingly difficult, this is good news for businesses in the East of England and we look forward to seeing further investments in the region."

In addition to the portfolio of managed funds, The FSE Group will continue to work with businesses to develop their investment case and unlock funding from a range of grant, debt and equity sources. This support is delivered via programmes such as Knowledge Exchange and Ready4Equity.

For more information on these services and our current range of funds, please see our website www.thefsegroup.com