No boundaries for entrepreneurial spirit

Jun 12 2007 By The Journal

North East entrepreneurs can now look beyond the bank manager and turn to a specially designed venture capital fund for finance, thanks to a major grant from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

NorthStar Equity Investors manages the £23m Co-Investment Fund (COIF) which helps innovative and fast-growing technology businesses to develop and expand with investments of between £100,000 and £1m. It has been funded solely by ERDF money.

NorthStar's strong team of COIF managers sealed 12 region-wide deals in its first year alone, investing just over £10m of the European cash in a range of diverse businesses.

Among the companies on its portfolio are internet services from Onyx, gourmet convenience foods from Tanfield, medical eye-tracking technology from ANL, and heat dissipation solutions from Thermastrate.

Cramlington-based company Comesys has benefited from £237,000 from COIF to expand its operations and manufacture innovative products such as non-contact car accelerator pedals.

The company is ideally placed to benefit from changes in EU legislation obliging 100kmh speed limiters for every truck over 3.5 tonnes and electronic accelerators for mechanical diggers and other off-road vehicles.

It has managed to secure significant new business, including orders from JCB, for vehicle control systems, and Bad Boy Buggies in the United States. In addition, a project has been secured from Hyundai for the development of a bus cooling system.

COIF funding is also allowing Pure Insight to help the region sharpen its product development credentials, and Wireless Dynamics to design ground-breaking communications software.

Meanwhile Edensure's software is helping conserve fuel at petrol stations, Point OV is leading the way in on-line ethical trading, and Durham Pipeline Technology's bristle tractors are helping inspect and maintain pipes that would otherwise be too expensive to reach.

The purpose of the European-sourced fund is to guide new technologies from the drawing board to the world market - in sectors as diverse as nanotechnology, communications, ICT, biotechnology, healthcare, chemicals, processing and renewable energy.

NorthStar Equity Investors chief executive officer Marion Bernard said: "Overall, we're expected to raise over £50m for North East businesses. That breaks down into £23m from the fund, and £28m from co-investors.

"One thing all of our investments have in common is that they are exciting opportunities, destined for high growth.

"We're always keen to talk to ambitious entrepreneurs who have a product, service or idea they want to take to the next level."

PIC CAPTION: COMESYS