Columbia Lake Partners named Venture Debt Provider of the Year
12 September 2019
We are proud to announce that Columbia Lake Partners has won the Venture Debt Provider of the Year award at the inaugural Growth Finance Awards.
The Growth Finance Awards launched this year in order to celebrate the companies providing “more than finance” to the UK’s growing businesses. It’s the first event of its kind, celebrating the innovative organisations breathing optimism into all regions of the UK by helping ambitious SMEs to scale new heights. These growth champions provide the vital capital inflows - around £79.7 billion last year - that help thousands of businesses to scale-up, boost productivity and create new jobs up and down the country.
The Venture Debt Provider of the Year award highlights a lesser-known but crucial part of the funding mix for high-growth VC-backed companies. In complement to traditional venture capital, venture debt provides start-ups with a less dilutive source of capital to fuel growth and achieve milestones before their next equity funding round.
This award is a recognition of Columbia Lake Partners’ contribution to the venture capital ecosystem in the UK, fuelling the growth of over 40 companies. Commenting on winning this award Craig Netterfield, Columbia Lake Partners’ founding partner, said:
“We are delighted to be recognised as Venture Debt Provider of the Year for our work funding the growth of European technology start-ups. Columbia Lake Partners was founded on being transparent, fast and easy to work with; the kind of fund that we would want to work with if we were looking for capital. Five years, over 50 investments and 40 portfolio companies later, I am so proud of what we have built and continue to build.”
All winners were revealed yesterday at an exclusive black-tie dinner hosted by Claudia Winkleman for over 300 guests at the Royal Lancaster Hotel, London.
“We launched the Growth Finance Awards in order to recognise the champions of small business finance. We’re celebrating the companies who are playing a vital role in the UK’s start-up and scale-up up ecosystem, championing and providing finance so that SMEs can realise their growth ambitions and reach their full potential,” says Guy Tolhurst, Managing Director of Intelligent Partnership, the company behind the awards.
He adds: “Congratulations to all of the winners across all the categories. Just to be recognised as a finalist is a great achievement itself, but to take home a prize is a truly impressive accolade. I look forward to next year’s event and continuing to educate growing businesses about the wide variety of financial options that are available to them.”
For the full list of winners, runners-up and ones to watch, visit growthfinanceawards.com