The Business Growth Project has invested £2 million into UK VFX company Milk.
Milk says it will use the funding to expand its studios; invest in new technical equipment and R&D and hire the best industry talent.
It has also appointed former Pinewood Group CEO Ivan Dunleavy as non-executive chairman.
BGF in the UK’s most active investor in growing businesses in the UK and Ireland. An established, independent company, BGF has £2.5 billion to make long-term equity investments in early-stage, established and listed companies.
Milk CEO Will Cohen, said: “Our new partnership with BGF and the appointment of Ivan Dunleavy as chairman will help us to deliver the most challenging and creative visual effects work for the global feature film, high end television and emerging digital content markets.
“We look forward to building on our success over the last four years – which is testament to the dedication and expertise of our team at Milk. It’s a wonderful way to begin our fifth year in business.”
Gavin Petken, regional director at BGF, added: “We are delighted to back Milk in their quest to create an independent visual effects business of scale. Will and the team have an outstanding reputation for delivering innovative, ground breaking visual effects and have cultivated valuable and strategic commercial relationships.
“They have scaled the business well, and we are excited to see our investment help accelerate their growth even further.”
Milk launched in 2013 and has won an Academy Award for its work on Ex-Machina, an Emmy for Sherlock and three BAFTA Television Craft Awards for Doctor Who and Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.