Pictured: (l-r) Steve Grice, business development manager at Ludgate Finance, Richard Clarke, managing director of Red Advertising, and Kevin Caley, managing director of The Business Loan Network

A Staffordshire business is aiming to double its workforce and quadruple its turnover after securing £150,000 of investment to support its growth plans.

Red Advertising, based in Kingswood Lakeside Business Park, Cannock, has secured the funding from peer-to-peer lending group The Business Loan Network, based in Coalville, Leicestershire.

The deal came to fruition after financial experts Ludgate Finance saw the potential in Red Advertising's expansion plans and formalised the company's investment proposal to make it an attractive and easy to understand proposition for would-be lenders.

The funding will be used to help develop the firm's online job advertising software and to expand the number of employees to 24 as Red Advertising works towards growing its current turnover of £400,000 a year to a figure approaching £2 million.

Richard Clarke, managing director at Red Advertising, said the firm approached Ludgate Finance after being turned down for support by six major high street banks.

"There is no getting away from it, market conditions are difficult for everyone at the moment," said Clarke.

"But all businesses are in the same scenario and you can stand still and remain low key or battle against the market conditions, like we have, and look to expand.

"We provide a high quality, but low-cost service, and that is attracting a great deal of business away from our competitors.

"We have set targets which we believe are achievable and with Ludgate and The Business Loan Network we were given local level, hands-on support and advice when traditional sources of funding would not listen to our proposals.

"If it wasn't for organisations like Ludgate and The Business Loan Network businesses like ours would no longer have access to funding which ultimately supports growth and creates jobs."

Steve Grice, business development manager at Ludgate Finance, is part of a network of sponsors for The Business Loan Network. Sponsors are experienced financial experts who audit and formalise loan opportunities before they are submitted for bids from potential investors at The Business Loan Network's website www.thincats.com

"The problem is banks do not seem to understand the value in non-tangible assets such as intellectual property," said Grice.

"They are used to dealing with bricks and mortar as security and therefore these traditional sources of funding are often closed to companies in industries involving high technology and software.

"We saw the potential in Red Advertising and knew it was a business with a bright future so we are delighted to have played a role in helping to secure this investment."

The Business Loan Network was established just under 12 months ago and is headed up by managing director Kevin Caley, who has over 28 years experience in early stage investment. The company is on track to have overseen just under £3 million of lending by early 2012 and is hoping to grow that figure to £100 million of lending in three years time.

Caley said: "We started with 13 private investors and we now have around 120 investors investing sums ranging from £1,000 to £600,000.

"It is mutually beneficial as it fills a funding gap and allows companies to invest in growth and jobs while also providing our investors with a higher rate of interest than they could expect through saving.

"Red Advertising was a company our investors were keen to be involved in and we are delighted to have been able to support the business in the next stage of its development."