Cornwall Children’s Publisher Expands After £184k Funding Support

A children’s non fiction publisher based in Truro is celebrating rapid growth after securing a second round of funding through the South West Investment Fund.

A Cornwall Success Story

Hungry Tomato received a total cash injection of £184,000 via SWIG Finance, which has helped the company expand its team, develop new ranges and reach readers around the world.

The first loan of £84,000 arrived in 2023, when the company had four employees and a turnover of £350,000. Today, Hungry Tomato has 12 staff and a projected 2026 year end turnover of £2m.

A further £100,000 loan was approved this year, allowing the business to create more books and accelerate growth, with more than 100 titles planned for release next year.

Managing Director Sharon Twiggs said: “The South West Investment Fund was a lifeline for us. Banks are less likely to value intellectual property as security, but it’s worth more than anything else in our business. Without the funding, we would still have been skimming along, doing a third of the business we are now.”

Backed by the South West Investment Fund

The South West Investment Fund was launched by the British Business Bank in 2023 to support small and medium sized businesses across the region. It provides loans from £25k to £2m and equity investment up to £5m.

The smaller loans are managed by SWIG Finance, a South West based organisation offering funding and support to help businesses develop.

Sharon and husband John launched Hungry Tomato in 2015 after long careers in publishing. In 2019, they relocated from Kent to Cornwall and set up at the Old Bakery Studios in Truro, where a growing team of young authors and graphic designers creates a wide range of educational titles.

Bright, Bold and Built for Young Readers

Sharon said the business was driven by a desire to see more children’s non fiction in the market. “We love reading The Sunday Times,” she said, “but we couldn’t help noticing that in the book reviews, there would be four pages of non-fiction for adults while the children’s section ignored it completely.

“And yet, when you look at trends, boys especially tend to prefer non-fiction. We were really keen to get books out there that would encourage kids to read more.”

Hungry Tomato’s books are written and designed to be visually engaging and age appropriate. Having begun with titles for schools and educators, the company recently expanded into mainstream ranges.

New Series Capture Young Imaginations

Last year saw the launch of Big Questions Answered, aimed at seven to nine year olds. The range covers 40 branches of science, offering narrative explanations, glossaries and downloadable assets. Subjects include AI, meteorology, seismology, selenology and teuthology.

Sharon said: “We’d been asked for this for a long time. For years, the standard syllabus has covered magnets, photosynthesis, the seasons. It’s pretty dull. We looked at university courses and found 140 individual sciences, and built the range around them.”

This success opened the door to Tomorrow’s World for readers aged nine and above, created in collaboration with a leading Chinese publisher. The first titles explore astrodynamics, augmented reality and planetary defence, with future editions to include neuroscience and nanotechnology. Sharon describes them as “Horrible Science meets Adam Kay”.

Next on the schedule is Hello for ages four to seven, beginning with Hello Plant. “The South West Investment Fund has allowed us to do all of this, and we are still pushing the envelope,” said Sharon.

Growing International Reach

Sharon praised the backing from SWIG Finance. “It can take a year for investment to yield a return, so SWIG Finance helped us to invest while making sure we had enough product to satisfy demand.”

Hungry Tomato already has established links in North America, supported by a distribution arm in Minneapolis. Sharon and John are now building partnerships in the Far East, with business trips planned to Beijing, Shanghai and South Korea.

The growth comes after a difficult spell during the Covid years. “Schools closed worldwide for the best part of two years, that really hurt us,” said Sharon. “We started picking up the pieces in 2022 and 2023.”

The move to Cornwall has played a key role in the company’s success. Sharon said the region’s creative talent pool, supported by Falmouth University and Truro College, had been a major advantage. “We have a great local team and they all want to be here, they start early, leave early and enjoy life, as do we.”

Sector Leaders Welcome the Growth

SWIG Finance business manager Rachel Thomson said: “I love reading and encouraging children to read is so important for their development. The books Hungry Tomato produce are wonderful, and I’m glad we were able to support them in their journey to make children’s books inspiring and accessible.”

British Business Bank Senior Investment Manager David Tindall said: “This further investment for Hungry Tomato through the South West Investment Fund demonstrates how the fund can support businesses at every stage of their journey, from early growth to international expansion. What began as a small regional publishing house is now becoming a global player in children’s non-fiction, creating jobs and exporting creativity from the South West to the world.”