Greater Manchester is one of Six English regions outside London which is set to benefit from £17.5 million to help scale up creative businesses and increase job opportunities.
Companies in the six regions will receive support through the Create Growth Programme to help get themselves investment ready.
Creative Industries Minister Julia Lopez said:
“From product design and video games to music and film, the creative industries are a stellar UK success story.
“Today’s plans will help get more creative businesses off the ground so they can spread jobs and wealth and help more people, including those from underrepresented backgrounds, break into these world-class sectors.”
Companies in six regions will receive support through the Create Growth Programme to help get themselves investment ready. The regions are Greater Manchester; the West of England and Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly; Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire; Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Lincolnshire; Kent, Essex and East and West Sussex; and the North East of England.
Each of the six regions have been awarded £1.275 million in grant funding from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to develop a targeted programme of business support. Regions will also benefit from a number of investor building activities such as networking and pitching events to attract investment and exchange ideas.
Businesses across the six regions will also be able to apply to a new £7 million investment fund to fuel their expansion. Companies applying for finance will need to demonstrate their potential to grow rapidly and become sustainable through private investment. The investment fund and investor building activities will be delivered by the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK.
