A County Durham ground investigation company has secured a 拢1m investment package to support its growth ambitions.
Exploration & Testing Associates (ETA) has established a materials testing laboratory at its head office in Bowburn, which works with a growing number of clients around the 海角视频.
The business, which was only launched in February 2019, is currently going through the final stages of its assessment by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (海角视频AS), the body which assesses competence in the materials testing sector, and is expected to be fully up and running soon.
The 拢1m funding for the project has been secured through private investment, RBS and NatWest.
Directors at ETA has also worked with regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers to secure a 拢150,000 investment from the North East Growth Capital Fund, which is supported by the European Regional Development Fund.
The firm currently employs 11 people and is actively recruiting for four roles, with more to follow once the lab is fully up and running.
Alongside opening the new laboratory, ETA has also recruited a number of specialists to help drive the development of its services, which are predominantly aimed at clients in the construction and development sectors.
The new lab is the latest stage of ETA鈥檚 plans to establish a network of regional offices which offer ground investigation, on-site and laboratory materials testing, along with geotechnical and geo-environmental advice and reporting.
It is also aiming to build its workforce up to around 70 people as part of this process.
ETA was founded last year by chairman Ken Marsh, who has more than three decades鈥 experience of working in the ground investigation industry and has been central to the growth and success of several of the sector鈥檚 best-known names.
He said: 鈥淭he experience I鈥檝e had of building up businesses in this industry will help our young team develop their commercial knowledge alongside their highly impressive technical expertise.
鈥淲e鈥檙e focused on providing the sorts of service levels that win repeat business from high quality clients and help to reinforce the company鈥檚 reputation for reliability, innovation and delivery.
鈥淲e鈥檝e come a long way very quickly and our aim now is to take on more and bigger contracts right around the 海角视频 as the business grows, something for which the Bowburn laboratory is the ideal base.
鈥淭he NEL team had a refreshing approach to the investment process and clearly understood what we are aiming to achieve, which made what they offered the best option for our needs.鈥
David Wilson, corporate finance director at Clive Owen LLP, provided corporate finance advice on the fundraising and investment process.
David Thomas, investment director at NEL Fund Managers, added: 鈥淭he ETA management team has an excellent industry track record and a clear strategy for how it is going to grow the business, which combined to make an attractive investment opportunity for us.鈥
The North East Growth Capital Fund has been designed to create around 790 jobs in more than 70 regional firms over the life of the programme and offers unsecured investments of up to 拢500,000 to established businesses looking to realise their growth potential.
