Belfast-based fund manager Whiterock has grown its team significantly over the past two years to help meet demand for both the debt and equity funding it offers.
Whiterock has been operating in Northern Ireland for more than 13 years, managing over £255m across five funds. Its current funds include the Growth Capital Fund, which provides minority equity investments in scaling Northern Ireland companies with high-growth potential, and the Investment Fund for Northern Ireland debt fund, which offers debt finance as a commercial alternative or supplement to traditional bank loans.
In the last two years alone its debt and equity funds have deployed over £47m in funds to Northern Ireland-based companies, leveraging a further £50m of investment into these locally based businesses from other commercial funders.
"We have the largest team of any fund manager in Northern Ireland and a management team with the ability to make decisions locally," says Paul Millar, chief executive of Whiterock.
"I think the fact that we have boots on the ground here and we're providing access to a very high level of expertise and experience on their doorstep does matter to a lot of very successful, locally-owned businesses."
Whiterock's £75m Growth Capital Fund makes investments of between £1m and £5m for minority shareholdings in growth and scaling companies, backed by the British Business Bank and private investors. In less than two years since the Growth Capital Fund was launched, Whiterock has deployed £25m of equity funding across 11 deals, leveraging a further £20m in funding alongside this investment.
"We've seen a huge appetite in the market for the fund as understanding of equity investment and our offer has increased," says David McCurley, partner at Whiterock.
Whiterock has been no less busy in the debt space, where it operates the British Business Bank's Investment Fund for Northern Ireland's (IFNI) debt fund, which offers loans of £25,000 up to £2m to businesses from all sectors at different growth stages. Since IFNI launched in January 2024, the fund has deployed over £21m to 47 different companies, leveraging a further £30m in private funding.
"Access to finance continues to be a crucial issue for many of the small and medium businesses that drive our economy and provide jobs for people who live here," says Whiterock partner Neil McCabe.