A new fund to provide finance for start-up and fast-growth businesses in the East Anglia region was launched in Cambridge by Small Business Minister Nigel Griffiths.
The GEIF Ventures Fund will provide investments in early-stage businesses - typically between GBP50,000 and GBP100,000 - matching the investment made by business angels.
The 'co-investment fund' will help bridge the equity gap - the difficulty faced by young companies that want to attract small-scale private finance. Such companies often find that private investors want to invest millions in bigger companies rather than thousands of pounds in smaller ones.
The fund, a GBP2.5m investment from the DTI's Small Business Service, will operate alongside the Great Eastern Investment Forum, one of the country's foremost business angel networks.
Nigel Griffiths, launching the fund in Cambridge, said: "I'm delighted to announce this important new source of growth finance.
