Development Bank of Wales marks £1bn milestone as investment chief hails ‘collaborative’ Welsh economy
Development Bank of Wales marks £1bn milestone as investment chief hails ‘collaborative’ Welsh economy
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The Development Bank of Wales has passed a major milestone after investing more than £1 billion into Welsh businesses, a moment its Investment Director, Rhian Elston, says reflects both the organisation’s growth and Wales’ increasing appeal to investors at home and abroad.
Established in 2017, replacing the Finance Wales organisation, its website boasts that the Development Bank funds “businesses that we think will benefit Wales and its people. The ones that will create ripples of growth. The ones that are more than a good business model or a great idea.
“We finance responsible businesses – those with a strong social, ethical and environmental standards, as well as real commercial promise.”
Speaking to Businessin Wales, Elston outlined the Bank’s role in the Welsh economy, its expanding investment reach, and the momentum generated by this week’s Wales Investment Summit.
“The Development Bank of Wales is here to provide business finance to businesses right across all parts of Wales,” she explained.
“That’s the provision of both loans and equity investments into businesses… starting from as little as £1,000 into a business up to a maximum of around £10 million.”
Elston said the Bank supports firms at every stage of their journey, from start-up to scale-up to business transition, and highlighted specialist teams backing technology companies and commercial and residential property development.
The Wales Investment Summit, which attracted investors from 32 countries, including around 150 business leaders who had never visited Wales before, was a key moment for promoting the nation’s economic strengths, Elston said.
“I think it’s really important to take a moment and recognise the various different investments that have happened right up in the run-up to the event,” she said.
“Hopefully the message that really came across both to local investors, but also wider investors, was that Wales is an incredibly collaborative place to do business.
“They can tap into the likes of the Welsh Government support, the support that Development Bank of Wales can offer to really allow them access to some of these locally embedded projects.”
While international capital is crucial, Elston said that expanding investment in Wales relies on collaboration with local investors who understand the market.
“One of the things that we pride ourselves on is what we term ‘last mile investing’,” she said.
“We’ve got people that are living where they invest and it’s quite a unique ability for us to be able to do that last mile investing and ensure that that money actually reaches the opportunities right across Wales.”
She added that many of the deals the Bank supports are “off market”, requiring ongoing local engagement that can be difficult for overseas or UK-wide investors.
Reflecting on the Bank’s recent landmark achievement, Elston said the team was proud to have delivered meaningful economic impact across the country.
“We supported almost 5,000 businesses across Wales and over 50,000 jobs.”
She added that the milestone helps raise awareness, saying: “Announcements like this mean we get our name out there more and hopefully more business owners will be aware of the opportunities and come and talk to the Development Bank if they’re looking for funding.”
Elston shone the spotlight on several standout investments made by the Bank, including Swansea-based bike lock manufacturer LITELOK and North Wales diagnostics firm Reacta Healthcare.
LITELOK, she said, is known for its “very high quality, best in the world bike lock with a very strong brand and really strong IP,” exporting around 60% of its products. The Bank first invested in 2017 and has participated in multiple co-investment rounds since.
Meanwhile, Reacta Healthcare has developed a market diagnostic tool to identify food allergies which is “much more effective” than existing methods.
“They still remain to be the only company worldwide that are able to manufacture pharma-grade food challenges,” she said.
Elston said the Bank plans to remain sector-agnostic, instead focusing on helping Welsh firms scale.
“We’ve always remained relatively sector agnostic,” she said. “What I would like to see us do more of is to encourage more businesses to scale in Wales.”
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