NEL secures £21.5 million funding boost

A North East investment manager has secured £21.5 million of additional funding to support ambitious businesses with growth, job creation and supply chain development.

NEL Fund Managers will use the new capital to expand its support for established companies with high-growth potential across the region.

The funding will top up NEL’s existing investment funds, which are backed by the British Business Bank, and will provide loans ranging from £25,000 to £2 million to established businesses with high-growth potential.

Paul Scott, chief executive of NEL Fund Managers, said: “As the most active private credit investor across the North East, this £21.5 million expansion to our investment offering comes at exactly the right time. 

“A strong pipeline of opportunities is emerging across the North, and SMEs need access to the capital required to seize them.

“Businesses are really benefiting from our value proposition with practical ongoing support once the investment is made. 

“Equally importantly, we are delivering for our investors with strong portfolio performance and impact; they are not mutually exclusive. 

“We’re demonstrating the SME landscape is an investable institutional asset class that can be scaled.

“By executing on this with our public and private sector stakeholders, NEL can be the conduit to attract more capital into the region and channel into growing SMEs where a lot of the innovation and job creation is happening.

“The recent Great North Investment Summit highlighted both the scale of the opportunity and the need to ensure investment reaches regional supply chains. 

“With large-scale infrastructure projects and increasing levels of inward investment, our focus is on deploying capital at pace so that SMEs can participate in this growth, capture the value, and convert it into real economic impact, both across the foundational economy and high growth sectors.

“Delivering this through a fund manager that is anchored and headquartered in the region, only adds to the economic multiplier effect.”

John McCabe, chief executive of the North East Chamber of Commerce, added: “NEL’s £21.5 million expansion to their investment offering is excellent news for businesses in the North East.

“The funding will help build local capability, attract investment, support ambitious businesses and create high-quality jobs in the region.

“We believe in the power of place-based approaches – solutions designed with, for and by the North East – to unlock our region’s full potential.

“As a regionally headquartered fund manager, NEL is helping to build resilience in the financial ecosystem, ensuring businesses can access the capital they need to grow while developing the skills, experience and confidence that underpin a thriving regional economy.”

The announcement follows a strong two-year period for NEL, during which the firm invested £17 million into growing businesses across the North.

Those investments have also helped leverage a further £4.5 million of private funding and are expected to create more than 350 direct jobs.

The fund manager now aims to increase its impact by backing more growth-focused firms operating in sectors considered vital to the UK economy.

James Katirai, head of investment at NEL Fund Managers, added: “Securing this additional £21.5 million of funding is a strong endorsement of our track record, the quality of our investment portfolio, and the impact we are delivering. 

“Demand for our finance continues to grow as ambitious businesses across the North seek funding that is both flexible and genuinely supportive.

“This increased allocation, complemented by NEL’s More Than Capital strategic support model, allows us to invest in more high‑quality businesses, helping them scale, create jobs and contribute to sustainable economic growth across the region.”

Find out more about NEL Fund Managers, its evolution over the past eighteen months and its future ambitions in our recent interview with chief executive Paul Scott, here. 

You can also read our interview with James Katirai and find out more about NEL's commitment to supporting SME growth throughout the North East in our sister publication, N, here.

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