The first investment to be made on behalf of the government’s Capital for Enterprise Fund has been completed, in systems integrator KeTech.

The first investment to be made on behalf of the government’s Capital for Enterprise Fund has been completed, in a fundraising round for systems integrator KeTech.

The £2 million deal was signed off by private equity firm Octopus Investments. Octopus manages £30 million of the government’s £75 million fund, which was launched in January as part of the government’s rescue package for growing companies struggling to access finance.

A total of £4.5 million was raised for KeTech in the fundraising round, including £2.5 million of invoice discounting from Centric Commercial Finance. CEO John Kearney says he wrote to business secretary Peter Mandelson in March about the company’s difficulty in securing finance.

Adds Kearney, ‘This [funding] will play a critical role in enabling us to secure profitable new contracts which regrettably, until now, we have been forced to turn away.’

Chris Allner, head of private equity at Octopus Investments, described KeTech as ‘an exciting company with a unique range of products and services that support both key domestic infrastructure projects and export markets’.

KeTech provides communication software and services to the rail industry as well as the emergency services and construction markets.