An ambitious North East company whose niche market now has more than 8,500 buyers across the UK is expanding after securing a second round of investment.

Continence product supplier Lylalife, based in Durham, is building up its customer service and business management resources after getting North East Fund investment through regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers.

Lylalife supplies a range of high-quality urinary incontinence products which are delivered directly and discreetly to customers, with a monthly repeat order service available alongside one-off purchases.

The business received a six-figure investment from the North East Small Loan Fund Supported by The European Regional Development Fund in 2021 to help boost its marketing and customer acquisition. Now the management team has now gone back to NEL to obtain a further six figure investment, this time from the North East Growth Capital Fund, to support the development of a bespoke CRM and management reporting app.

This will provide live management information across the business’s key performance indicators, such as the effectiveness of its different marketing activities and the buying behaviours of its customers.

Two new jobs are expected to be created as the business grows this year, which will take the Lylalife team into double figures, while the development of a number of new products is also being underpinned by the latest investment.

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Further resources are also being directed towards digital marketing campaigns through a number of different channels.

Lylalife was founded in 2019 by a team of directors who combine experience of supplying similar product ranges to the care home sector and the NHS with financial and marketing experience.

Managing director Wayne Dobson says: “We’ve learned a great deal about ourselves and our customers over the last couple of years and are ready to put that knowledge to good use in growing the business.

“Our bespoke customer relationship management app is shaped precisely to our needs and gives us immediate access to a great deal more data that we can analyse and act on quickly and easily.

“We expect that the greater insight it will provide in identifying the most effective ways of acquiring and retaining customers will have a tangible impact on our growth, and we’ll be building our customer service and sales team to help manage the increase in demand we’re expecting.

“The NEL team understands our people and our business model, and when we were looking for the capital required for the next stage of our growth strategy, it made clear sense to extend our relationship.”

Jane Siddle, senior investment executive at NEL Fund Managers, said: “Lylalife has built a strong position in an expanding niche market and the more detailed management information that it will now be able to access will underpin the next stages of its development.”

The North East Growth Capital Fund has been designed to create around 790 jobs in more than 70 regional firms over the life of the programme and offers unsecured investments to established businesses looking to realise their growth potential.

The overarching £153m North East Fund will provide financial support for more than 600 businesses, creating around 2,500 jobs and delivering a legacy of up to £80m for further investment into the region.

NEL Fund Managers is also responsible for managing the £9m North East Small Loan Fund, which offers loans to businesses in Tyne & Wear, Durham and Northumberland.