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Creative industries to get £40m investment boost

With support from the Government’s British Business Bank, the Edge Creative Enterprise Fund has been launched to address the “funding drought” in the creative industries.

Christy Romer
2 min read

Individuals and arts organisations will have the chance to pitch for investments of between £500k and £5m as part of a new £40m investment fund for the creative industries. Launched by Edge Investments, and backed by £26m from the Government’s British Business Bank and £14m from private sources, the fund intends to address the “funding drought” in the creative industries by investing in fast-growing and revenue-generating small and medium size creative companies which look to scale.

Applicants qualify for the equity-based investment providing they are profitable or have a reasonable chance of becoming so in the near future, require a total funding round of £1m to £10m, are capable of generating a return of at least three times the investment within a seven to ten year period and are stable enough to permit investor exit after seven years.

Edge Investments CEO David Glick explained the rationale behind the fund: “There are nearly 160,000 creative industries businesses in Britain yet despite being in this high growth sector, many of them find it difficult to attract adequate capital to maximize their potential. Edge Creative Enterprise Fund will bring much-needed growth capital to smaller businesses in the creative industries, and we are grateful to the British Business Bank and all the fund's investors for their support.”

Ken Cooper, Managing Director, Venture Capital Solutions at British Business Bank said: “This is the first fund specifically focused on the creative industries backed by the British Business Bank…The creative industry is of increasing importance to the wider UK economy and we are particularly pleased that this fund will ensure these high-growth businesses have access to the finance they need to scale.”

The launch of the Edge Creative Enterprise Fund coincides with the release of a guide to sources of funding and investment for arts, cultural and creative organisations, ‘Creative industries – routes to finance’, produced by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.