As cities and towns throughout the North of England continue to form into hubs for early-stage tech businesses, Seedrs has taken an active role in helping these startups raise the funds they need to grow. We are excited to announce that we are the headline sponsor of TechNorth’s Northern Stars.
Over the past three decades the business landscape in the North of England has shifted significantly. As industry made way for a service based economy, there has been a notable rise in the amount of tech-based businesses growing throughout the North. Recent research taken out by GP Bullhound has calculated that the North’s fastest-growing 50 tech businesses almost doubled revenues in 2015 to £1.12 billion and nearly 300,000 regional jobs have been created, so it is no wonder that we are seeing a significant increase in attention for businesses in the region.
TechNorth, the government agency that has been set up to promote the Northern tech sector, is hosting a series of events to boost the national and international profile of these businesses throughout the second half of 2016. Northern Stars is a pitch competition that seeks to identify and showcase the best tech startups in the North of England. They’ll do this through a series of regional pitch events, culminating in a grand final where 10 winning companies are chosen by a high profile panel of judges. Seedrs is proud to be the headline sponsor for the event, and our team will be on hand to educate startups about maximising investment opportunities throughout the series.
Since Seedrs launched in 2012, we have helped a wide range of businesses based throughout the North of England raise investment through the platform. A few include:
- Stockport based peer-to-peer lender Assetz Capital raised £3,258,510 in 2015 and have recently gone on to win the Credit Strategy Best P2P Lender award, beating UK fintech giants Funding Circle in the process.
- And beverage brand Charbrew, who are based in Warrington, raised £168,740 in 2014. Since then they have launched in 150 WHSmith Travel stores across the country and have been sampled in a number of other high-profile retail stores.
- Coacher, a Sheffield based business looking to help football coaches improve the quality of their training, raised £110,288.
If you are an early-stage tech or digital startup entrepreneur who is interested in the applying for the Northern Stars competition, visit the TechNorth website. You must be a digital tech startup based in the North of England, have raised less than £2 million investment and have a live product in the market with customer traction. Good luck!
