The only company in the UK to turn used paint into new has enjoyed a double boost.

Newlife Paints, based in Rustington, near Littlehampton, has secured significant investment from business “angel” Tim Breden, the Sussex-based entrepreneur who sold Kate’s Cakes for £32 million in 2007.

Mr Breden, who has set up Sussex Business Partnership to give financial backing to SMEs, has bought a fifth of the company for an undisclosed sum.

He joins Keith Harrison, the industrial chemist who developed the paint recycling technique, and Graham Griffith as a director of Newlife.

The business scooped Best Recycled Product at the recent National Recycling Awards.

Mr Harrison was delighted with the “double whammy”. He said the company, which recycles about 100 tons of paint per year, was on the verge of a deal with a large national retailer.