A £35m investment fund has been launched to help boost the º£½ÇÊÓÆµ’s creative industries.
Creative º£½ÇÊÓÆµ, a non-profit organisation which supports businesses working within games, film and digital media production, has said the money could help support the Government’s ambition to grow the sector by £50bn and create one million jobs by 2030.
The Bristol-based group has partnered with Triodos Bank, which also has its º£½ÇÊÓÆµ head office in the city, on what is its second growth finance fund, having previously invested more than £50m into the national creative sector over the past decade.
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The previous fund, launched in 2019, saw more than £17m invested into more than 30 creative businesses across the country, including Bristol based visual effects studio Moonraker VFX. Creative º£½ÇÊÓÆµ said those companies who secured funding had since reported 108% improvement of average monthly revenues and created more than 225 jobs between them.
Caroline Norbury, chief executive at Creative º£½ÇÊÓÆµ, said: “In launching the Creative Industries Sector Vision, the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak acknowledged the 'enormous potential of our creative entrepreneurs and businesses' and said that 'growing the economy means growing the creative industries'. However, the potential of the creative industries risks being unfulfilled if the creators and innovators whose talents power our growth are unable to access the capital and financing they require.
“That’s where Creative º£½ÇÊÓÆµ comes in. We know that with the right investment, the power of the sector to drive growth and innovation across all corners of the º£½ÇÊÓÆµ can be truly transformative”.
Tim Evans, investment director, Creative º£½ÇÊÓÆµ, added: “Promising creative companies are too often prevented from unlocking their full potential by barriers to accessing the financing they require to grow. Our new Creative Growth Finance II fund removes those barriers. Over the past decade Creative º£½ÇÊÓÆµ’s investment in the creative sector has experienced significant success, using both public and private funds to catalyse growth, boost innovation and unlock access to vital third party capital.”
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Moonraker VFX, which has worked with many of the world’s top directors and filmmakers in the creation of computer generated imagery for the BBC, Apple TV, Netflix and Disney, secured loans worth £700,000 through Creative º£½ÇÊÓÆµ’s previous growth finance fund to support the release of its film Moonbase: The Next Step last year.
Jon Grafton, managing director and co-founder, Moonraker VFX, said: “We wanted to partner with an organisation that understood the Creative Industries. A high street bank is unlikely to appreciate the film-making and creative process, whereas working with Creative º£½ÇÊÓÆµ, it’s obviously an area they know incredibly well.
“They understand the model of what we were doing and it feels so much better to work with a party who really get what’s going on behind the scenes.”