Fifteen years on BGF is still supporting Yorkshire business - Chris Boyes

Fifteen years can feel like a lifetime in business. Back in 2011, England completed a memorable Ashes series victory by beating Australia in the fifth Test in Sydney.

Sheffield’s Arctic Monkeys had just released their fourth studio album, Suck It and See, and Game of Thrones first appeared on our screens. And closer to home, BGF was established to address a funding gap facing ambitious mid-sized businesses across the UK.

In Yorkshire, the mood was less about celebration and more about recovery. Businesses across the region were still rebuilding after the financial crisis, investment activity had slowed and many entrepreneurial companies were struggling to access the funding they needed to grow.

Yorkshire and the Humber accounted for just 14 of the UK’s 164 private capital-backed deals in 2010, down from 35 deals worth £3.4 billion in 2007. For many growing businesses, there were simply too few options for financial backing that suited the economic backdrop. The region had become a more confident place to build a business, but there was a need for patient, long-term investment.

BGF was created to offer a different model. Rather than taking controlling stakes, it provided long-term capital through minority investments, enabling entrepreneurs and management teams to retain ownership while accessing the funding and support needed to scale. It was an approach recognising that many successful businesses wanted a growth partner rather than a buyer or to borrow.

From that starting point, we’ve had a front-row seat to Yorkshire’s evolving investment landscape.

Over the past 15 years, the region has become more ambitious and far better equipped to support scaling businesses.

Yorkshire’s economy has never stood still. Some of its traditional strengths have continued to thrive, while newer industries have emerged to reshape the region’s business anatomy.

Healthcare has consistently been one of the region’s strongest growth sectors. For example, Springfield Healthcare, one of BGF’s earliest Yorkshire investments, expanded from a single care home into a network of care villages – creating hundreds of jobs while helping to meet growing demand for specialist care.

Manufacturing has also demonstrated Yorkshire’s ability to build globally relevant firms. Businesses such as Akula Living have shown that specialist manufacturers can compete on an international stage, exporting high-quality products to some of the world’s largest hospitality and cruise operators while earning recognition through the King’s Award for Enterprise.

Technology perhaps illustrates Yorkshire’s transformation most clearly. Fifteen years ago, Yorkshire’s digital ecosystem was finding its feet versus more established hubs. Today, Leeds is established as one of the UK’s leading healthtech hubs, while businesses across the region are developing software, digital health and AI solutions for customers around the world. For example, Yorkshire-born Pharmacy2U has combined technology and healthcare expertise to build the UK’s largest digital healthcare platform and NHS-contracted online pharmacy.

Despite the specific nuances of these industries, the businesses attracting investment have the same attributes. They understand their customers, build strong leadership teams and adapt as they grow.

This reflects an environment where investors are looking for resilient business models, recurring revenues and robust governance alongside ambitious growth plans.

Yorkshire has always built businesses with substance. From its industrial heritage and family-owned manufacturers to today’s software developers, healthcare innovators and specialist engineering firms, the region has a long track record of entrepreneurs solving real-world problems and building companies that stand the test of time. That practical, determined mindset remains one of Yorkshire’s greatest strengths.

Today’s founders are at the forefront of the next phase of that story. They’re using software to modernise traditional industries, applying AI to tackle increasingly complex challenges and developing world-class products and services they can export to customers domestically and internationally. While the sectors may have changed, the ambition to build resilient businesses that create jobs and contribute to the local communities they operate in has not.

Yorkshire has a significant role to play in the UK’s economic future. Alongside its established manufacturing base, the region is home to thriving technology, healthcare and professional services businesses, supported by twelve universities producing world-class research and entrepreneurial talent. We’re also seeing founders building companies in sectors that barely existed when BGF first opened its doors.

BGF has committed to invest a further £400 million across Yorkshire and the North East over the next five years. It shows that we unequivocally believe in the quality of businesses being built here and the opportunities ahead.

Over the next 15 years, if Yorkshire’s businesses continue to access the patient, long-term capital they need to scale, the next chapter of Yorkshire’s story will be even stronger than the last.

Chris Boyes is a partner at BGF in Yorkshire and the North East.