The newly-formed Canadian Business Growth Fund has announced its investing $15 million in a Kelowna-based company.
Lift Auto Group operates six autobody shops in Western Canada - including three in Kelowna: Kelowna Performance Collision, Springfield Auto Body, and Mark V Auto Body.
Fund CEO, George Rossolatos, says they were impresssed with where the owners of Lift wanted to take the company.
"They're ambitiously looking to bring together up to 15 different locations a year into the fold, and build it into one of the bigger players in their industry right out of Kelowna," he says.
The Canadian Business Growth Fund, which has a cash pool of almost $550 million, was established this past June with a mandate to invest in growing mid-sized companies.
Rossolatos says it was a no-brainer investing in a Kelowna company.
"Kelowna is one of the up-and-coming entrepreneurial powerhouse cities in Canada, for a whole variety of reasons, and I know that it's starting to be recognized as such - and so we're thrilled this company is based there, and wants to build a business there, and this investment will definitely create more jobs in Kelowna and we're thrilled to part of that eco-system," he says.
The Canasdian Federation of Independent Business ranks Kelowna the number #1 city in the country in which to start and grow a business.