Praetura Ventures launch fast track pre-seed programme
Manchester-based venture capital firm Praetura Ventures is to launch PraeSeed, a new £6m programme aimed at fast tracking 35 early stage companies to become investment ready.
Building on the high visibility of accelerator programmes run by Exchange in Manchester, and Baltic Ventures in Liverpool, the programme will be based in Praetura’s Manchester office and run over a six-week assessment period.
Businesses will attend workshops will be delivered by experts and later stage founders to help the cohort benefit from their previous experience in scaling companies.
The accelerators aim to provide entrepreneurs with specialist education and insights around how to run a company to help them get the best start.
Last week Praetura were announced by the British Business Bank as the fund manager for the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II – Equity North West, a new £100m fund focused on supporting businesses with equity investments of up to £5m.
On theBusinessDesk’s Rainmaker platform the full background to the story explains how Praetura sealed the deal in a long read entitled How the Hoodies beat the Hard Heads.
This latest programme will be seen as further evidence of the different approach Praetura is taking, as a relative newcomer to publicly funded venture fund management of this scale.
Since 2019, Praetura Ventures has backed 40 companies, through its own funds including Northern-headquartered businesses Culture Shift, XR Games and Peak. It is also an investor in Modern Milkman which made an acquisition in the US yesterday.
Applications to PraeSeed will be open from the start of May and an initial 10 businesses will be given a place on the first cohort to start in June, with up to seven investments available at the end of the assessment period. The programme will run over five years and look to invest over £6m into 35 start-up businesses.
Investment Manager Jess Jackson, who will lead the programme said: “We’ve been working on this for some time so we’re so excited to finally launch PraeSeed. Praetura wants to help build the region’s next break-out success stories by supporting them from the very beginning and helping them get started the ‘right way’. The programme will focus on assessing the businesses first and foremost, but will also be accompanied by our curated mix of content from those who’ve been there before and help plug them in to the Praetura community. For those who are successful, we will also offer a clear route to follow on investment to help them get funded faster and scale at the rate they need to.”
She added: “We want these early-stage founders to know that there’s a whole ecosystem of supporters who want to see them succeed and grow world-leading businesses from the North. The right advice is essential and we want them to learn from the best.”
