Part of the Solutions for Business portfolio of publicly funded business support

 

Solutions for Business (Opens in new window)

Ensuring businesses have access to appropriate finance is key to an enterprising region. Entrepreneurs need finance to start new businesses and existing businesses need it to realise opportunities for growth.

Accordingly, Advantage West Midlands has drawn together a Regional Finance Forum and Access to Finance Framework with the aim of ensuring that innovation, entrepreneurship and business growth are not adversely affected due to a viable business being unable to access appropriate finance

Advantage West Midlands' role in enabling access to finance involves identifying market failure and gaps in the supply of finance and working with the private sector to explore the most appropriate ways for these to be filled.

This has led to the provision of a range of grants, loans and venture capital that provide businesses with funding, as follows;

Equity based finance via:

Business Angel networks

Other sources of equity

Loans

Grants

With the exception of the Grants for Research and Development, Grant for Business Investment and The Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE) all of the sources of finance are externally managed. Contacts for this can be accessed via the hyperlinks.

Understanding Finance for Business
In addition, via Business Link West Midlands, we support initiatives that increase businesses' awareness of different types of finance and what finance providers expect of businesses, effectively helping make them 'investment ready'. Further information on this and other support available can be obtained by contacting Business Link West Midlands (Opens in new window) on 0845 113 1234 or by contacting Anthony Andrews - Head of Access to Finance at Business Link on  0121 569 0760 or by email: anthonyandrews@businesslinkwm.co.uk.

All financial support offered through Advantage West Midlands is provided in accordance with State Aid rules.

Other sources of finance
Details of other sources of finance can be found in the Finance and Grants for West Midlands brochure (Opens in new window). In addition, the most comprehensive source of information about all types of finance for business in the West Midlands is via www.westmidlandsfinance.com; a finance portal with more than 500 different sources of public and private sector funding, including a number of funds supported by Advantage West Midlands.

FAQ

How do I find the right type of finance?

Go to www.westmidlandsfinance.com or contact Business Link West Midlands  on 0845 113 1234 or look at www.businesslinkwm.co.uk.

If a gap is identified in the supply of finance or related support available to help businesses what should I do?

If there is evidence of a gap in the supply of a specific type of finance or related activity that has not already been identified as a priority for action with the regional Access to Finance Framework, this should be discussed with Advantage West Midlands' Access to Finance team.

If I am looking to use public sector funding to set up a new grant scheme or loan/equity fund, or help businesses access finance, do I need to discuss this with anyone?

All proposals for access to finance related activity in the West Midlands that intend to seek or make use of public sector funding need to show that they specifically address at least one of the priority actions within the regional Access to Finance Framework.

Exceptions would need to provide clear evidence that there is a demand for the provision of finance or related activity that is not covered by action already being taken. An outline of what is under consideration would need to be discussed with Advantage West Midlands' WM's Access to Finance Team. 

Your Advantage West Midlands contact

Mike Watts
Business Finance Executive
mikewatts@advantagewm.co.uk
T: 0121 380 3564