First Award for Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire High Growth Investment Programme

Kamm Design Limited has secured grant funding to enable the business to further expand its development activities into the competitive carbon fibre triathlon cycle frame market.  Funding was sourced from the grant programme launched earlier this year by the Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire LEP, which is managed and operated by Blue Sky Corporate Finance.

The High Growth Investment Programme is designed to enable local companies to realise their growth potential by offering grant funding for expansion, capital equipment purchases, support for training, and research and development.  The High Growth Investment Programme is part of the Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire LEP’s Growth Hub, which is streamlining and improving access to business support and finance.

The Growth Hub itself is funded by the Government’s Regional Growth Fund, through Lancaster University, which is supporting similar initiatives around England.

Kamm Design is the first business to take advantage of the High Growth Investment Programme, which launched in June 2014.

Kamm Design Limited, based in Newcastle-under-Lyme, provide an advanced tailor-made bicycle service for triathletes.  Their ambition is to design and produce a brand of bikes that will ultimately service the increasingly popular triathlon and cycling market.  The funding secured will enable them to continue with their development activities and in-turn result in an innovative, highly-competitive product that will enable the company to enter the rapidly expanding carbon fibre bicycle market, which is currently dominated by Far East suppliers.

Martin Meir, Managing Director, Kamm Design said: “We want to be able to provide a highly innovative product that enables us to fulfil the demands required by the triathlon market.  The funding we have secured through the help of Blue Sky Corporate Finance and the LEPs High Growth Investment Programme will now enable us to further develop a ground-breaking product and put the area on the map as a provider of excellence in this sector.”

David Frost, Chairman of the Stoke-on-Trent & Staffordshire LEP stated: “The UK triathlon business alone, is worth £66m, and demand for Kamm Design products will be highly sought in this competitive market.  We are delighted the funding will enable Kamm Design Limited to develop their business further into this niche market and we are confident that the business will go from strength to strength.  With the bike frames being produced in Staffordshire this is good news for our region.”

For more information on the High Growth Investment Programme, including eligibility criteria and how to apply, please visit www.blueskycf.com/sshighgrowth or contact the team directly on 0845 2583 759 or email sshighgrowth@blueskycf.com