AFTER just 12 months in WA, the Corporation Builders program has borne its first fruit.
Rope and climbing equipment manufacturer Fallright International has signed a $2.7 million deal with venture capitalist Foundation Capital.
The company won a Small Business of the Year Award in 1997.
Fallright principal Mack McCormack said the company needed the funds for its US operation.
“We’ve opened in the US and gained some major orders,” Mr McCormack said. “We had to fast track the business’ growth in order to meet the demand.”
Foundation’s Ian Murchison said the Fallright deal had been on the go for the past nine months.
Corporation Builders, also sponsored by Business News, was brought to Perth last year by the WA Department of Commerce and Trade.
The department’s Ross Weaver said it had been looking at alternative ways for small enterprises to source capital.
“Often the banks will not lend them money,” Mr Weaver said.
He said a lot of times small enterprises do not know how to go about sourcing alternative means of finance, or how they needed to present themselves to a potential financier.
“We were trying to get a service provider that could address the information gap between the investors and the businesses,” Mr Weaver said.
“Corporation Builders helps businesses to get finance ready. It runs workshops to help companies get venture capital ready.
“And a lot of the information providers at the seminars are in the venture capital or finance industry,” he said.
