Veena Hira’s Regent Recruitment has been backed by the North West Fund for Venture Capital through an undisclosed transaction.

The Manchester and London-based business recruits chefs for some of the world’s top restaurants as well as hospitality executives.

The deal is being led by Enterprise Ventures, which manages the Venture Capital fund, and is set to allow Regent Recruitment to invest in marketing and infrastructure with the aim of building its client base.

Speaking to GrowthBusiness, Hira says that, in the immediate future, the business sees growth opportunities emerging in Manchester.

Hira comments, ‘We’ve started by moving into King Street offices in the city centre and we aim to supply more of the high-profiled restaurants and hotels Manchester now sees emerging including Simon Rogan at The Midland and Aiden Byrne at Manchester House.

‘The years of knowledge and experience we’ve accumulated will soon catapult us to where we should be, serving the best with the best by sourcing people with passion.’

Despite the new focus on Manchester, Hira adds that the business will not be moving out of London. Instead, it will be bringing back home people who have worked in London – now that there are more positions in the North of England.

As part of the new investment, Regent Recruitment will have a new non-executive director in the form of Sue Craven – who previously build and sold executive search firm Armstrong Craven.

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Richard Young, investment manager at Enterprise Ventures adds, ‘Regent Recruitment has built great brand loyalty in its specialist field and has a deep network of contacts.

‘We share Veena’s excitement about the opportunity to grow the business, both in the UK and internationally.’

The North West Fund for Venture Capital is a £30 million sub-pot of the £155 million North West Fund, which is financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the European Investment Bank.

Its last deal came earlier in July when it committed £750,000 alongside Lancashire’s Rosebud Fund to liquid roofing systems business Centaur Technologies.