Jun 16, 2021

North West most active region for British Business Bank investments outside London in 2020 The data has been revealed in the latest Small Business Equity Tracker Sign up to FREE email alerts from BusinessLive North West Invalid EmailSomething went wrong, please try again later. Subscribe When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Your information will be used in accordance with our Privacy Notice. Thank you for subscribingWe have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice The North West was the most active region for British Business Bank equity investments outside of London last year, according to new data. The Small Business Equity Tracker has revealed the region was second only to London with the proportion of equity deals completed by British Business Bank supported funds – accounting for 10% of all bank supported fund deals. Last year the bank put a record £8.8bn into 2,044 small businesses nationally. The total value of equity investments in the wider market in the North West reached £270m across 117 announced deals. The Small Business Equity Tracker, which is compiled annually and is in its seventh year, also revealed that regional imbalances were moving in the right direction. In the overall equity market, the proportion of deals going to companies in London has reduced from 50% in 2015 to 47% in 2020. The volume of equity deals from the British Business Bank going to companies in London reduced further from 63% in 2015 to 42% in 2020. Sign up for your free BusinessLive North West newsletter BusinessLive is your home for business news from around the North West- and you can stay in touch with all the latest news from Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria through our email alerts . You can sign up to receive daily morning news bulletins from every region we cover and to weekly email bulletins covering key economic sectors from  manufacturing to  technology  and  enterprise. And we'll send out breaking news alerts for any stories we think you can't miss. By bringing together North West coverage with that from across Reach’s titles in England and Wales, BusinessLive will shine a spotlight on the entrepreneurs, the stars of the future and the small firms that are the backbone of our economy. Visit our email preference centre to sign up to all the latest news from BusinessLive. Dr Sophie Dale-Black, UK network director, North of England at British Business Bank, said: "The North West continues to be a hotbed for innovation with a rising number of quality tech and life sciences businesses that are fit for equity investment. "At one end of the scale, we are seeing lots of strong early-stage companies that are securing equity finance, then at the other end of the scale there are tech unicorns like The Hut Group that are pulling in multi-billion-pound valuations listing on the stock market. "While the latest figures are moving in the right direction and do address the regional imbalances in access to finance, more needs to be done to support ambitious businesses in the regions. Read More