A transportation business that provides bus service for students and workers from poor parts of London is following an equity model to raise funds. Bridges Ventures, Futurebuilders, and Rathbone Greenbank Investments are among the impact investors in the company.

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HCT Group, a community bus business run by a Welsh former miner, is raising GBP 5m via a "social loan", a new form of debt designed to fuel the growth of the fledgling social enterprise sector. Backers include Bridges Ventures, the social investment business chaired by Sir Ronald Cohen, the veteran venture capitalist.

HCT, originally called Hackney Community Transport after the working-class London borough where it is based, lists "social justice" as one of its prime objectives. Turnover has grown by about 25 per cent a year for the past eight years and is expected to top GBP 20m in the year to March 31, 2010, when profits will be around GBP 1m.

The social loan will allow HCT, which operates bus routes in east London and the City and school buses in Yorkshire, to expand its fleet of 250 vehicles and staff of 500.

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