Mercia Asset Management – the capital providers to SMEs – invested over £120m in 159 companies during 2022, with 79% going to businesses outside London.
Mercia, which is based in Henley-in-Arden, invested £17.4m in 24 Midlands businesses during the year. They included Leicester-based HR tech StaffCircle, Loughborough-based rebate management platform e-bate and Marriott Drilling Group of Chesterfield.
Dr Mark Payton, CEO of Mercia, said: “Approximately 60% of the capital we manage is in venture focussed on young businesses with significant growth potential. Venture capital plays an important role in developing the industries of the future but with the majority of funding focused on London, the remaining regions of the UK continue to be underserved. Through our Venture funds and teams operating across the UK, we aim to address that gap.
“Despite the near term economic headwinds as a nation we face, we passionately believe in continuing to support new businesses and our existing portfolio. While many other funders have become more risk averse, Mercia will continue to invest throughout 2023 and we look forward to supporting many more businesses, through our national network of offices across the UK, in the year ahead.”
In 2022 Mercia also successfully exited some of its earlier investments including Sheffield-based Faradion, a world leader in sodium-ion battery technology, which was acquired for £100m by Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries.
During the year Mercia acquired Birmingham-based SME lender Frontier Development Capital (FDC) in a deal that took its assets under management to circa £1.4bn. It also opened new offices in Bristol and Hull.
