Regional investors agree partnership to support early-stage companies
Two regional investors have agreed a strategic partnership to provide enhanced support for early-stage companies across the North.
DSW Ventures and NorthInvest have formalised their partnership, which will provide quicker access for NorthInvest companies to venture capital funding from DSW Ventures.
The move follows on from two previous investments in Newcastle businesses PopTop and OneUtilityBill.
NorthInvest helps start-ups connect with angel and venture capital investors, typically for pre-seed funding, and offers free coaching to founders.
DSW Ventures, which is the venture capital arm of the Dow Schofield Watts group, invests in scale-up companies in the regions.
David Smith, co-founder of DSW Ventures, said: “With the economy feeling the impact of the pandemic, it is more important than ever that funders work together to create a supportive start-up ecosystem.
“As the appetite of our investors remains undiminished by the Covid-19 crisis, [the partnership] will also provide access to an even wider range of high-quality investment opportunities.”
Helen Oldham, founding board director of NorthInvest, added: “There is no lack of ambitious entrepreneurs in the North, but as a region we need to find ways to nurture them from the pre-seed stage and provide access to funding opportunities to back innovative ideas. This partnership with DSW Ventures will increase access to larger sums of funding for our start-up community with a view to future funding rounds.”
Both organisations can deploy additional funding to support investments – NorthInvest from Innovate UK’s Regional Angel Investment Accelerator (RAIA) with the Innovation SuperNetwork, and DSW Ventures from its £10m fund from the British Business Bank’s Regional Angel Programme.
