The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF), which is delivered by the British Business Bank, has invested more than £10m into businesses across Cheshire and Warrington.

The information and communication technology sector was the most prolific securing a total of £3.6m-worth of funding across nine businesses across Cheshire and Warrington, closely followed by the professional, scientific and technical activities sector which also saw significant activity with 14 businesses receiving £3.3m-worth of investment.

Businesses in Cheshire and Warrington that have received funding include cloud-based accounting and payroll software provider My Digital Accounts.

Founded in 2015, the firm received a £1.2m investment from NPIF-Maven Equity Finance to help with its growth, with the investment supporting the business in scaling its marketing and doubling staff numbers.

In addition, Warrington-based Bmech, which provides energy-efficient heating, air conditioning, ventilation and electrical systems to end users, main contractors and the facilities management industry, received a £100,000 loan from NPIF-FW Capital Debt Finance.

The firm was founded 29 years ago and was taken over in 2011. Since then, it has grown from six employees to 27 in seven years and generated annual sales of £2.2m in the year to September 2018.

The loan assisted with creating 17 new jobs and increasing the turnover to £4.65m at the financial year end in September of 2019. The firm required funding to maximise its growth potential and is now on target to achieve a turnover of £8m in 2019/2020.

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