Belfast-based fund manager Whiterock on how it has grown its team significantly over the past two years to help meet demand for both the debt and equity funding it offers
Whiterock partners Rhona Barbour, Neil McCabe, David McCurley and chief executive Paul Millar
Wed 21 Jan 2026 at 15:33
Whiterock has been operating in Northern Ireland for more than 13 years, managing over £255m across five funds. Its current funds include the Growth Capital Fund, which provides minority equity investments in scaling Northern Ireland companies with high-growth potential, and the Investment Fund for Northern Ireland debt fund, which offers debt finance as a commercial alternative or supplement to traditional bank loans.
In the last two years alone its debt and equity funds have deployed over £47m in funds to Northern Ireland-based companies, leveraging a further £50m of investment into these locally based businesses from other commercial funders.
To manage this demand Whiterock has continued to invest in its team, recruiting a number of key individuals over the past 18 months, and it now has 20 professionals working across its funds and commercial finance teams.
“We have the largest team of any fund manager in Northern Ireland and a management team with the ability to make decisions locally,” says Paul Millar, chief executive of Whiterock.
“I think the fact that we have boots on the ground here and we’re providing access to a very high level of expertise and experience on their doorstep does matter to a lot of very successful, locally-owned businesses.
“We are proud to have built up a high level of trust in the business community and work closely with referrers such as accountants, banks, lawyers and other funders.”
The growth of the team led Whiterock to make a significant investment in 2025 into its office space in City Exchange on Gloucester Street, the firm’s home since it was established in 2012.
“We made the decision to invest in a revamp of the office layout to cater for the growing team today and also to allow for future growth,” says Whiterock partner, Rhona Barbour.
“We’ve created more meeting spaces to make sure clients, referrers and partners can be accommodated and refreshed the office to make it an attractive environment for the team. It is a further demonstration of our commitment to the Northern Ireland funding landscape and the wider economy.”
The funding landscape has changed since Whiterock was founded, with more choice available to local companies seeking debt or equity finance support to help grow their businesses. But Whiterock continues to be at the forefront of NI deal activity.
Whiterock’s £75m Growth Capital Fund makes investments of between £1m and £5m for minority shareholdings in growth and scaling companies, backed by the British Business Bank and private investors.
In less than two years since the Growth Capital Fund was launched, Whiterock has deployed £25m of equity funding across 11 deals, leveraging a further £20m in funding alongside this investment.
“We’ve seen a huge appetite in the market for the fund as understanding of equity investment and our offer has increased,” says David McCurley, partner at Whiterock.
“Our typical first cheque size is between £1m and £5m, with the potential for follow on funding up to £7.5m, and it has been really interesting to see the broad range of businesses who have availed of equity funding through the Growth Capital Fund since we launched back in February 2024.”
Companies supported have included Belfast-based whiskey distillery Titanic Distillers, Fermanagh headquartered plastics manufacturer Re-kkur, drinks industry brand owner and distributor Drinksology Kirker Greer, independent solar panel installer Solarfix, innovative medtech companies Neurovalens and Cumulus, flexible office provider Hubflow and vehicle fleet camera software business Mantis.
Whiterock has been no less busy in the debt space, where it operates the British Business Bank’s Investment Fund for Northern Ireland’s (IFNI) debt fund, which offers loans of £25,000 up to £2m to businesses from all sectors at different growth stages.
The £30m IFNI debt fund provided by British Business Bank was bolstered last month by a further £29.2m from Invest NI, announced by Economy Minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald, increasing the availability of debt financing to almost £60m.
“Access to finance continues to be a crucial issue for many of the small and medium businesses that drive our economy and provide jobs for people who live here,” says Whiterock partner Neil McCabe.
“Through the debt fund, Whiterock has helped increase the supply and diversity of finance available to a really broad array of businesses, providing loans on a flexible basis over a two-to-seven-year period.”
Since IFNI launched in January 2024, the fund has deployed over £21m to 47 different companies, leveraging a further £30m in private funding.
This has included deals to support growing businesses such as Coleraine sports company Powerhouse Padel, independent watchmakers Nomadic Watches, fastener distributor Profast, security technology firm AES Global, energy services business Refresh NI and boutique Belfast hotel Harrison Chambers of Distinction.
Added to this, Whiterock’s commercial finance team has been involved in over £30m of commercial and property finance deals, which have been brokered across various sectors including commercial, residential, construction and development.
It’s another area where Whiterock is expecting continued growth, says Paul Millar.
“It’s fair to say our funds and deal teams have been extremely busy, and we are grateful to all of our partners and colleagues for the part they have played in this,” he says.
“As appetite for funding continues to increase, we look forward to another active year supporting Northern Ireland businesses in 2026.”