Purposeful Businesses
We work with purposeful businesses to help them grow and deliver sustainable impact in their communities through the provision of affordable finance, business support and connections with local partners.
Create an impact in the region
We know that purposeful businesses can help solve some of our region’s biggest problems so that everyone can thrive. Our investment can help you build towards:
- A sustainable planet
- An ethical economy
- An equitable society
You don't need to sideline your purpose
Businesses often adapt to get investment. Under the weight of pressure to deliver on short-term returns, they can end up loosening their grip on their mission, values and vision for long-term impact.
As a result, places, people and the planet risk being shortchanged. And everyone misses out. But there’s another approach to investment – one that we’ve seen work for founders, investors and our region.
How our investment might work for you
Drawing on our experience, local knowledge and connections, our place-based approach aims to create more than a financial return. Here’s what makes us different.
Build long-term and sustainable impact
We’ll work with you to design an investment package that balances the demands of your organisation with long-term, affordable and repayable finance.
Help make your vision a reality
We’ll create tailored investment to bring your ambitions to life, and then we’ll stay active as financial partners, helping you to deliver your vision.
Find new partners and customers
We’ll try to aid your growth where possible with potential connections to regional leaders and investors in our network. We can also find you board support if it’s appropriate.
Be part of a healthy, regional economy
We’ll connect you where we can with other relevant businesses, charities and social enterprises that we’ve invested in, so that together your impact can multiply.
What kind of investment is available?
The amount of investment we can offer will depend on the project type, as well as the experience of your leadership team. The terms of the investment will be designed on a case-by-case basis to give you optimum support and the greatest change of long-term success.
What you can expect
The following outlines some of the key features of our available funds.
Investment from £50k to £1m
Investments are tailored to your needs and ensure maximum long-term success. We will create a bespoke investment package with funds release all at once or when you need it most.
Blended finance
Investments are usually repayable loans, but certain funds can be invested for equity stake. Convertible Loan and Revenue Participation Notes are equity-like arrangements that link repayments to performance.
Flexible repayment schedules
To help you establish strong cash flows at key phases in your organisation’s growth, we can structure loans that are flexible, with capital and interest holidays or milestone-linked repayments.
Longer-term investment
Investment length significantly impacts repayments. We can arrange investments up to eight years and profile these for longer. This means helping you partner with a bank for example to find other money.
Affordable and accessible
We aim for our loans to be both affordable and accessible in comparison to the market for small business lending. Our rates on interest-bearing loans are generally between 4% and 10%.
Independent approval
Our Bristol-based Independent Advisory committee will review your proposal. They may request amendments or special conditions. We then seek final approval from the Financial Conduct Authority.
What is the process for seeking our investment?
If you are interested in finding out more about investment options, we follow a straightforward process, common to most investors.
We will want to know about:
- Your sound business idea, strategy and model
- Your measurable impact
- Your capacity to deliver on your idea
- Your commitment to the region
- Your readiness to take on repayable finance
We have a fairly simple process,
common to most investors:
There is a six-stage process, which includes onboarding, documentation review, independent review by our Bristol-based Independent Advisory committee, FCA approval and then legal agreements.
Our portfolio
Find out about some of the projects and organisations we have raised investment for.
