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The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund boosting business resilience, skills and innovation, says new report

Press release 12 January 2023

CIOSIF boosting business resilience, skills and innovation, says new report.

  • 90% of businesses surveyed said investment from CIOSIF had increased business resilience.
  • 81% said they had introduced new products or services to market.
  • 76% said they had increased skills in their existing workforce.
  • 76% said they had increased investment in R&D.

The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund (CIOSIF) is driving more business resilience, increased skills, more R&D investment and new products and services among small to medium sized businesses across Cornwall.

These are the key findings of an evaluation commissioned by the British Business Bank from independent research consultancy SQW.

The fund was established by the British Business Bank and the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership in June 2018 to provide commercial debt and equity finance from £25,000 to £2 million to small businesses in Cornwall and Scilly.

The evaluation covered debt and equity finance provided up to March 2022. Deployment of debt was relatively low during the Covid-19 pandemic as emergency debt funding was available outside of the CIOSIF.  As a result CIOSIF investments were more weighted to equity (65%) than debt (35%).

Almost half of respondents surveyed (48%), said they had reduced the environmental impact of their business as a direct result of CIOSIF investment. CIOSIF also helped boost the numbers of employees, sales, and productivity among more than two thirds of respondents.

These survey results show how investment from CIOSIF is having an enduring and positive impact on small to medium-sized businesses across the region, boosting jobs, skills, innovation and productivity.

The fund has also leveraged considerable investment from the private sector, and we’re encouraged to see several businesses secure millions of pounds in non-CIOSIF related follow-on investment, and almost half take steps to become more sustainable.

- Ken Cooper Managing Director, Venture Solutions, British Business Bank
CIOSIF has proved to be a powerful catalyst for business growth and innovation, helping businesses accelerate the launch of new products and services and adopting more efficient processes. It is increasing business resilience and giving companies more confidence to seek follow-on finance to fund further growth. - Mark Duddridge Chair, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership

To date CIOSIF has made 68 investments totalling £15.5 million in 50 Cornish SMEs, comprising £10.9 million of equity and £4.6 million of debt. Those investments have leveraged an additional £46.3 million from the private sector, which means the fund has been a catalyst for almost £62 million of investment into local businesses since its launch.

CIOSIF 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.

For more information about the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Investment Fund including how to apply, please visit www.ciosif.co.uk or follow the fund on Twitter at @CIOSIFBBB2

Further Information

Notes to editors

About the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund (CIOSIF)

The £40 million Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Investment Fund provides debt and equity finance from £25,000 to £2 million to help growing small businesses in Cornwall and Scilly. It has been established by the British Business Bank in partnership with the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP and is operated by appointed fund manager, The FSE Group.

For more information about the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Investment Fund including how to apply, please visit ciosif.co.uk or follow the fund on Twitter at @CIOSIFBBB2.

The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund, is providing debt and equity finance, ranging from £25,000 to £2 million, specifically to help small and medium sized businesses secure the funding they need for growth and development.

The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund is operated by British Business Financial Services Limited, wholly owned by British Business Bank, the UK’s national economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity.

The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund is supported by the European Regional Development Fund, the CIOS Local Enterprise Partnership and HMG grant funding.

The project is receiving funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit the European regional development funding webpage.

The Government has guaranteed all funding allocated through EU programmes until the end of 2020.

The funds in which Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund invests are open to businesses with material operations, or planning to open material operations, in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly only.

About the British Business Bank

The British Business Bank is the UK’s national economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity. Our remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government.

The British Business Bank programmes are supporting more than £7.0 billion of finance to over 91,000 smaller businesses (as at end of June 2019).

As well as increasing both supply and diversity of finance for UK smaller businesses through its programmes, the Bank works to raise awareness of the finance options available to smaller businesses:

  • The British Business Bank Finance Hub provides independent and impartial information to high-growth businesses about their finance options, featuring short films, expert guides, checklists and articles from finance providers to help make their application a success. The new site also features case studies and learnings from real businesses to guide businesses through the process of applying for growth finance.

As the holding company of the group operating under the trading name of British Business Bank, British Business Bank plc is wholly owned by HM Government and is not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The British Business Bank operates under its own brand name through a number of subsidiaries, none of which are authorised and regulated by the FCA.

British Business Bank plc and its principal operating subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found on the British Business Bank plc website.

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