“Six-figure” NPIF investment for South Manchester games studio

Airship Interactive, a Lancashire-founded games art studio which provides art services for some of the world’s largest gaming companies including Disney, Microsoft, Blizzard, 2KGames and Sony, has received a six-figure investment from NPIF II-FW Capital Debt Finance, which is managed by FW Capital as part of The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II).

Airship, which is now based at Bruntwood SciTech’s Glasshouse at Alderley Park development in South Manchester after announcing plans to relocate from its Lytham home in late 2022, has earned a reputation as one of the leading art production studios for the games industry and sits at the forefront of research and development into new design and production techniques.

It was set up in 2008 by CEO Joe Harford, and this is the third round of investment the business has received from FW Capital, which also provided backing in 2020 and 2022 from the previous Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.

Harford said: “When we first started working with FW Capital four years ago, we had 15 staff and sales of £1m. Today we’ve scaled the business to employ over 85 staff, 50 global contractors and sales of circa £9m.

“This is testament to the hard work and expertise of our team and the ongoing evolution of gaming systems and software.”

Alistair Igo, FW Capital’s portfolio executive, said: “Airship Interactive is an impressive business that continues to record significant growth. I’m thrilled to support Joe and the team with this latest round of funding which has seen the business expand into a new office and create further new jobs.”