The Sheffield-based company secured a £30,000 investment from the South Yorkshire Investment Fund (SYIF) to invest in new demonstration equipment.

The loan is the fifth from the regional investment fund since the company was incorporated in 2000 and, according to DCP managing director Darren Walker, it will enable the business to expand and win new contracts.

"We can now open up new markets for customers wanting to carry out textile printing on products such as umbrellas and t-shirts.

"It's a growing area and as a value-added Mutoh reseller, there's a lot of scope for us in that market," said Walker.

SYIF is one of a network of regional investment funds that specialise in bridging the traditional ‘funding gap', supplying loans of between £15,000 and £2.5m.

SYIF investment manager David Ward said that the credit crunch had increased interest in regional funds.

"Smaller businesses are finding it harder to get traditional bank finance and the demand for our services has increased," he said.

He added that the investment would help it to realise the potential of the market for digitally printed photographic work.

DCP Systems supplies wide-format digital printers, including HP, Canon and Epson kit.

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