An IT company has secured £4 million of new investment to support the opening of a training centre in Birmingham next year.

London-based Sparta Global operates the Sparta Training Academy which trains graduate IT professionals and provides industry services to clients such as Channel 4 and Ministry of Justice.

Private equity house Key Capital Partners has provided the new funding and taken an undisclosed "significant minority stake" in the business which currently employs 160 staff.

The investment will fund further expansion including the opening of new training centres at Innovation Birmingham Campus and in Leeds which will create around 100 jobs in 2018.

Search for IT in the region with Fish4Jobs

Sparta Global's chief executive David Rai said: "Our unique model brings improvements to the vocational training of software engineers, bridging the skills gap between education and the workplace for IT graduates but also provides a flexible low-risk talent proposition to our clients."

Philip Duquenoy, a partner at Key Capital Partners, will join the board of Sparta Global following the investment.

He added: "We have spent over a year working with the business to ensure our expertise and strategic goals were aligned and together we have developed a strategy for the business that we are confident will generate sustained growth over the coming five years."