£2m in deals secured: funding roadshow FUELs North East business

A NATIONAL business roadshow that kicked off in Newcastle on 17 March saw over 180 meetings take place between businesses and national funders, investors and advisers, securing offers of over £2 million in deals.

FUEL, delivered by national funding and advice specialist, UMi, is a series of dedicated business-focused events taking place across the UK to help British SMEs overcome challenges commonly faced when trying to access finance to launch or grow.

The Newcastle event, which took place at the Grand Hotel, saw hundreds of businesses attend to identify what type of funding is right for them, how to access funding and investor-ready status and discover who is actively looking to back businesses like theirs.

Initial outcomes have been phenomenal, with a pipeline of over £2 million in deals achieved as a direct result of FUEL, which delivered over 180 pre-matched one to one meetings for businesses attending.

The roadshow underpins UMi’s continuous commitment to helping the nation’s businesses do more and go further and is also being backed by major partners including NatWest, Purbeck Personal Guarantee Insurance, CO4CH, Department for Business, Small Business Commissioner, CBI and British Business Bank.

One entrepreneur who attended the event and met with investors was Martin Gilmore, Director of The AutoPilot, an independent motorcycle retailer based in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Speaking after the event, he said: “As a small retail business with freehold premises in the heart of Newcastle, one of the biggest challenges for us is the time it takes to find the sort of people who would fund us, especially when it's all relatively new to us, and FUEL was a great opportunity to meet face-to-face with those who are wanting to actually fund businesses in our sector.

“I sat down with Allica, Barclays and FW Capital. At this stage in the game, especially when you're an SME and you're really in the trenches, speculative acquisition to add into your business is something that takes a load of time and what you don't want to do is spend weeks and months going down a path that's going to lead you nowhere, but this opportunity allowed us to quickly get a ‘yes or no’. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

Paul Slaughter, CEO at Care Messenger Holdings Limited, was also in attendance. He said: “It’s been fantastic to see the people who are actually lending the money, whether that's banks, private equity investors or debt finance, all here under one roof and having one-to-one opportunities to talk to them has been absolutely superb. It’s exactly what our small businesses, whether they be start-ups or in the latter stages of growth, need.”

Since 2007, County Durham-headquartered UMi has supported ambitious UK businesses including start-ups, scale-ups and larger, established companies, and has unlocked £1bn of investment from grants and loans to private sector investment.

Nicki Clark OBE, CEO of UMi, said: “We are absolutely delighted with the response the first FUEL event received and are hopeful that future events will prove just as successful as word begins to spread.

“The roadshow was designed so that business owners up and down the country can access everything they need in one place over the space of a few hours and the feedback we’ve received demonstrates how the events are achieving just that.

“It not only helped facilitate over 180 meetings between businesses and investors but also helped many go away confident in the knowledge that they are on the right path and can now take the next steps required to successfully access finance for their business.

“It was a fantastic day and we would encourage any other businesses out there who feel as though they missed out or simply want to find out more about the funding avenues available to them to sign up to one of our future events. It could be just the kickstart their business has been waiting for.”

Future FUEL roadshows will be taking place throughout the UK at the following locations:

Rotherham – Wednesday 10 June - AESSEAL New York Stadium
Edinburgh – Thursday 24 September – Murrayfield Stadium
Liverpool - TBC
South East - TBC
Midlands – TBC
Wales – TBC

Business owners interested in attending any of the events above can book tickets, or register interest in future events, via the website: www.fuelroadshow.co.uk.