Cumbrian businesses with aspirations for growth could benefit from the new £400m Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF), which aims to provide a wider choice of finance options and produce higher levels of investment across the region.

Over 100 delegates gathered at an event at Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership’s Penrith headquarters in March to hear about the new funding opportunities available and how these can be accessed.

The NPIF is providing the money for fund managers to offer microfinance (£25,000 - £100,000), business loans (£100,000 - £750,000) and equity finance (up to £2m), specifically to help SMEs secure the funding they need for growth. The project is supported with investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The aim of NPIF is to change the structure of finance markets for smaller businesses, providing a mixture of loans and equity capital to Cumbrian SMEs at all stages of their development.

Cumbria Local Enterprise Partnership chair George Beveridge says: “This is about improving funding options and opportunities to support smaller businesses across the county. It will complement the business support activity already delivering jobs and growth here, and it will be an important part of the finance mix alongside banks and other gap funding programmes.”

NPIF is a combination of capital allocated to the 10 LEPs in the North West, Yorkshire and Humber and the Tees Valley by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), a loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB), funding from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and an additional loan from British Business Finance Limited, a British Business Bank group company.

For more information, visit www.npif.co.uk