Two Bristol area firms are the first to receive funding under the West of England Growth Fund initiative.
The bids were put in to the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership’s (LEP) £25m fund by Avon Valley Precision Engineering, based in Bitton, and Yate-based Pulse Roll Label Products. 
More than 400 companies have expressed an interest in the scheme which has a deadline for applications at the end of the month.
Avon Valley Precision Engineering, which supplies parts to major aerospace firms such as Rolls-Royce, Airbus and GKN, has been awarded £233,000 to expand into an adjacent building and buy new machines with the ambition of doubling its turnover.
Managing director Mark Summers said: “Without the funding from the LEP we would have found it very difficult to generate enough funds for this expansion.
“It’s given us a springboard to where we want to be, which is doubling our turnover within the next couple of years.
“The programme and the process is excellent – nice and straightforward and without too much bureaucracy.”
Pulse Roll Label Products will use its £36,000 to buy ink manufacturing equipment to help expand sales of its food and bottle labelling in the UK and abroad.
Pulse, which employs 30 people, sells as far afield as Australia, Poland, Russia, Italy and Spain and hopes to further develop its international trade in coming years. It is targeting 25% growth over the next 12 months.
Founder Gary Seward said: “The programme has been very straightforward. We have had face-to-face meetings, campaign staff have told us all that we needed to know and the funding has been very accessible and simple.
“We are currently preparing for growth and this funding is a significant catalyst in enabling that growth to happen.”
Firms across the West that are looking to create or safeguard jobs can apply for funding under the initiative of between £10,000 and £1m for training schemes, cash investments or research and development.
LEP chief executive Paul Wilson said: “We are thrilled that the first firms have started to benefit from the fund.
“This is a great opportunity and we want as many businesses as possible to benefit from the scheme.
“We have £25m to share out between businesses and we are keen for as many firms as possible to take advantage of this unique opportunity.”
For more information on the fund, click here.
