A BINGLEY-based cosmetics company is set to recruit up to ten more staff after securing a £300,000 Equity Linked Investment from Finance Yorkshire.

Wildacre Cosmetics will use the investment from the funding body to bring in new eight to ten key technical, finance and warehouse staff, invest in new machinery and provide working capital.

A total of £200,000 has been invested to date, with a further £100,000 to be made available to the firm later this year.

Wildacre Cosmetics specialises in the contract manufacture of cosmetic and toiletry products, using essential oils and natural ingredients.

It was set up by managing director Steve Richardson and chairman Steve Meredith in 2009 and originally operated in part of a former textile mill in Yeadon.

The firm, which moved to the 11,500 square foot Castlefield trading estate at Crossflatts near Bingley in 2012, now supplies some of the biggest names in the industry.

Mr Richardson said: “This injection from Finance Yorkshire will enable us to really take the business to the next level, investing in machinery, a new laboratory and key personnel.

"We take a huge amount of satisfaction from developing and bringing a new product to market for a client, and this will allow us to do this at a far higher level than ever before.”

Katharine Braim, Finance Yorkshire investment manager, said: “Wildacre Cosmetics is a great example of a Yorkshire business focused on quality, value and innovation.

"It spotted a niche in the market and filled it with a full-service offering, providing a one-stop-shop for formulation, manufacture, branding and packaging.

"We have every confidence that this investment will set the business on the road to real expansion.”

Finance Yorkshire provides loan and equity linked investments, ranging from £15,000 to £2million to help a range of small and medium-sized businesses to meet their funding requirements for growth and development.

The project is supported financially by the European Union. It has attracted £30million investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of Europe’s support for the region’s economic development through the Yorkshire and Humber ERDF Programme, £15million from UK Government and £45million match funding from the European Investment Bank.