Cheshire bioscience firms secure £2.5 million Northern Powerhouse Investment

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) has invested a total of £2.5 million into bioscience firms in Cheshire.

Businesses at Alderley Park, the UK’s largest single site life science campus, have received a quarter of the NPIF’s £10 million milestone recently achieved in the Cheshire and Warrington region.

The NPIF was established in 2017 by the government-backed British Business Bank to provide financing from £25,000 to £2 million to SMEs to support economic growth in the North of England.

The £2.5 million invested into Cheshire bioscience businesses has supported a range of healthcare innovations.

Aptus Clinical received a £150,000 loan in 2018. The company specialises in clinical contact research to develop new medicines. The loan was used to invest in its infrastructure, and has since relocated to a larger office in Alderley Park and has further expansion plans.

Alderley Analytical received two separate investments of £300,000 in 2018 and 2019 to purchase two mass spectrometers. The company provides analytical services to drug development programmes.

Colibri Scientific is the most recent Cheshire bioscience company to receive NPIF funding. The clinical trials service received an £80,000 loan to bolster headcount and develop a laboratory information portal.

Grant Peggie, Director of the British Business Bank, said:

It is great to see the huge investment being made into Alderley Park which highlights the sheer amount of innovation that is taking place across the region. Reaching this £2.5m milestone at Alderley Park is really important for NPIF in showing the investment taking place across the Northern Powerhouse in science and new technologies.”

Christine Gaskell CBE DL, Chair of Cheshire and Warrington LEP said:

This milestone shows how much NPIF is helping to drive forward economic growth in Cheshire and Warrington and supporting the ever-developing cluster of innovative science and technology businesses at Alderley Park. We are delighted that the fund is making investments in to businesses that are developing the latest in medical, scientific and biotech industries thus furthering our reputation as a centre for innovation.”

Dr Kath Mackay, Managing Director of Alderley Park, said:

Access to funding is a hugely important issue and our ecosystem of innovative, ambitious businesses at Alderley Park has been well supported by the NPIF, as this milestone demonstrates. Growing the science and technology sector is central to the future of UK Plc and Alderley Park is major element in a wider picture of the North West’s flourishing knowledge-based economy.”

Image: The Colibri Scientific team.