French restaurant group Le Bistrot Pierre has secured almost £10 million in new funding.
The firm, which is due to open has struck a deal with mid-market private equity house Livingbridge.
The new funding will allow the group, which also runs restaurants in Leamington Spa, Stratford and Leicester, to accelerate its plans for new openings and optimise its existing estate of 14 venues.
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Established as a single franchise restaurant in Nottingham in 1994 by school friends Robert Beacham and John Whitehead, Le Bistrot Pierre posted revenue of £18 million and profit of more than £2 million in its last financial year.
Mr Whitehead said: "We are excited by Livingbridge's endorsement of our business and, with their investment, look forward to expanding our estate and opening more successful bistrots.
"The whole process leading up to the deal has been smooth and we are now relishing this new phase of growth with our partners."
The £9.8 million funding round is the first investment from Livingbridge's new £220 million 'Enterprise 2' fund which targets fast growth SMEs in the 海角视频.
It will invest in growth equity and buyout transactions of profitable companies, initially requiring up to £10 million of equity capital.
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It is also Livingbridge's second deal in the restaurant sector, having invested in Pho, the Vietnamese restaurant chain, in 2012.
Livingbridge director Benoit Broch added: "Le Bistrot Pierre is precisely the sort of business that we love working with - they have a fantastic management team, a proven business model and a really differentiated offering.
"We are really excited about our future partnership with them, having had the pleasure of getting to know Robert, John and the team over the past year.
"This deal really demonstrates Livingbridge's continued commitment and enthusiasm for the eating and drinking out market and we look forward to building on our growing presence in this space."
The transaction was led by Mr Broch, Nick Holt and Oliver Mauldridge from Livingbridge.
Le Bistrot Pierre was advised by Sam Fuller, Katherine Hobbs and Arthur Callaghan at corporate finance firm Altium.