Channel 4 appoints Laura Franses as Head of Growth Fund

5 March 2014

Channel 4 has appointed Laura Franses to the role of Head of Fund to oversee its new Growth Fund for the independent sector.

Laura will report to Glyn Isherwood, Group Finance Director and will work alongside the Growth Fund Advisory Board.  In the newly created role Laura will manage the £20m fund which has been set up to help provide access for funding for start-ups and medium sized independent digital and TV production companies based in the UK – to help them grow and develop their business.

Laura has extensive experience in strategy, operations and finance for the creative and broadcasting industries. Laura co-founded the Emmy winning TV production company Nutopia Ltd with Jane Root which she ran as Managing Director for four years. Prior to that she worked at Zodiak (RDF) identifying and buying TV companies for the AIM-listed super indie, and started out in the UK as a production finance executive at Film4, part of Channel 4.  Until recently, Laura was the UK Managing Director at global online media company, VICE Media Inc. She holds a first class honours degree from Cambridge University and is a graduate of Harvard Business School.  

Commenting on the appointment, Glyn Isherwood, Group Finance Director at Channel 4 said: “Laura has a fantastic track record in the creative industries and the knowledge and passion that she brings to Channel 4 will be invaluable as we launch the Fund.”

Laura Franses said: “I'm thrilled to be coming back to Channel 4 after a long time operating in the independent sector. There's a huge amount of existing and emerging talent in the UK and Channel Four is perfectly positioned to help identify and nurture that. I'm excited that Channel 4 has developed this unique initiative and assembled a great team to further develop its relations with the indie community.”

Laura joins Channel 4 in March 2014.  Appointments to the Growth Fund Advisory Board will be announced in due course. 

The Channel 4 Growth Fund was announced by Chief Executive David Abraham at last year’s RTS Cambridge Convention 2013 and will launch in Q1 2014. The fund will help generate additional commercial return for Channel 4 and will add a new dimension to the corporation’s existing support for the sector by stimulating growth outside of the normal commissioning cycle and offers an important alternative to other forms of equity and debt funding for smaller creative companies.

Interested companies can register their interest via growthfund@channel4.co.uk

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