Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund (CIOSIF) is a £40m UK government-backed fund for small businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. Managed by The FSE Group, it backed two water-technology companies before completing its investment phase in 2023, after which the region's funding moved to the South West Investment Fund.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund is a regional development fund first, a water backer only by accident of geography. The government-owned British Business Bank set up the £40m pot in 2018 to close the finance gap for small firms at the far southwest tip of England, splitting it roughly in half between loans and equity for companies from Penzance to St Mary's.
CIOSIF's water portfolio is small but pointed. It backed Molendotech, a University of Plymouth spinout whose rapid tests read coastal bathing-water bacteria in under half an hour, and Oxi-Tech Solutions, which builds compact electrochemical reactors that generate disinfectant on site. Both are classic Cornish science: the coastline is a local obsession, and these are the companies trying to instrument it.
CIOSIF never had its own staff. The FSE Group, a specialist fund manager, ran the equity investments and the larger loans, with SWIG Finance handling smaller debt and Brent Treloar fronting the fund across a region he has worked for 25 years. By the time it wound down, CIOSIF had booked 411 jobs and £13.3m of added economic value against its targets, on a 96% spend profile.
CIOSIF closed to new investment in 2023, its job done, and the British Business Bank rolled regional support into the far larger £200m South West Investment Fund, which now covers Cornwall alongside the rest of the region. The reason I keep a fund this small in my Leviathan database is the lesson it teaches a newcomer: some of the most interesting water companies get their first institutional cheque not from a water fund at all, but from a local development pot that happened to be looking.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
How they invest
Portfolio · 2 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What is the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund?
- Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund (CIOSIF) is a £40m UK government-backed fund launched in 2018 by the British Business Bank to provide loans and equity to small businesses across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. It completed its investment phase in 2023.
- Who manages CIOSIF?
- CIOSIF was managed by The FSE Group, an independent specialist fund manager that handled equity investments and larger loans, with SWIG Finance delivering smaller loans. The fund itself was an initiative of the government-owned British Business Bank with the regional local enterprise partnership.
- Does CIOSIF invest in water companies?
- CIOSIF was a generalist regional fund, not a water specialist, but it backed two water-technology firms: Molendotech, which makes rapid bathing-water testing kits, and Oxi-Tech Solutions, which builds on-site disinfection reactors. Both sit in the Cornwall region the fund served.
- Is CIOSIF still investing?
- No. CIOSIF closed to new investment after completing its investment phase in 2023. Businesses in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly can now access finance through the larger £200m South West Investment Fund, which the British Business Bank launched in July 2023.
- What is the difference between CIOSIF and the South West Investment Fund?
- CIOSIF was a £40m fund limited to Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly and active from 2018 to 2023. The South West Investment Fund is its £200m successor, covering the whole of South West England, including Cornwall, with debt and equity finance for small businesses.