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Start Up Loans celebrates £50m of loans to small businesses in Wales

Press release 22 October 2024

Start Up Loans, part of the British Business Bank, today announces that it has provided over £50m worth of funding to small businesses in Wales, equating to almost 5,000 loans, since the programme launched.

Of all local authorities in Wales, Swansea has received the highest value of loans (over £6m), followed by Cardiff (over £5.8m) and Newport (over £3m).

As well as receiving the highest value of loans, Swansea received the most loans of any local authority in Wales with 587 individual loans received to date.

This month Start Up Loans has also reached significant funding milestones in the local authorities of Pembrokeshire (£2m) and Denbighshire (£1m).

Of the 4,876 loans distributed across Wales, 37% have gone to female business owners.

The average loan amount is reported to be highest in the Vale of Glamorgan at more than £11,500.

Examples of recent successful businesses supported include: Melin Llynon, a restored eighteen century flour mill which is Wales’ last working windmill; We Make Footballers, a franchised football academy in Cardiff and Tŷ Green, an eco-hut business.

The British Business Bank Start Up Loans programme provides government backed loans of up to £25,000 per individual, up to a maximum of £100,000 per business. In addition to finance, successful applicants may receive free mentoring, access to resources and advice

Start Up Loans is proud to have provided £50m worth of funding to founders across Wales since 2012.

We hope that aspiring business owners in Wales are inspired by the stories of successful businesses that have launched with the support of a Start Up Loan and get in touch with us at the start of their own business journey.

- Louise McCoy Commercial Managing Director at the British Business Bank

See below for a full breakdown of loans to the top five local authorities in Wales since 2012, including amount lent, volume and average amount.

This £50 million milestone is an important one for businesses right across Wales.

We know that access to finance has become a significant problem for many small businesses, which is why we’re committed to working with the British Business Bank to support SMEs as much as possible, wherever they are in the country.

- Gareth Thomas Small Business and Exports Minister

Top entrepreneurial local authorities in Wales:

Local AuthorityAmount Lent (£)Loans MadeAverage Loan Amount (£)
Swansea5876,116,40810,420
Cardiff5645,830,97310,339
Newport3163,191,61510,100
Carmarthenshire2973,184,03510,721
Caerphilly3003,026,28510,088

To support smaller businesses, Start Up Loans has recently releases an Essential Guide to Starting a Business, containing advice for first time business owners to help them get started.

Further Information

If you are a journalist and have a media enquiry, please contact mediaenquiries@british-business-bank.co.uk.

Notes to editors

About Start Up Loans

The Start Up Loans programme is operated by The Start-Up Loans Company, a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales, registration number 08117656, registered office at Steel City House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 2GQ.

The Start-Up Loans Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of British Business Bank plc.

British Business Bank plc is a development bank wholly government-owned by DBT and is not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The British Business Bank and its subsidiary entities are not banking institutions and do not operate as such.

Free guides on a range of subjects related to starting a business and recent media press releases are available on the Start Up Loans website.

The British Business Bank makes finance markets for smaller businesses work better, helping the sector to prosper, to grow and to build economic activity.

Key Statistics

  • Since its inception in 2012, the Start Up Loans scheme has delivered over 115,000 loans, providing more than £1.13bn of funding.
  • In the financial year 2023/24, the scheme provided 9,759 loans with a total value of approximately £
  • The economic benefits of the Start Up Loans programme are almost six (5.7) times its economic costs.
  • Since 2012, 31% of loans went to people formerly unemployed or economically inactive. 40% of loan recipients were women and 20% were from ethnic minority groups (not including white minorities).

Aside from the return-on-investment numbers these statistics are gross estimates and based on Start Up Loans CRM along with externally commissioned research undertaken by SQW Ltd, with support from BMG Research.

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