£2m awarded to scale up digital clinic

Surgery Hero, a Leeds-based business which has created a digital clinic to help people prepare for and recover from surgery at home, has won backing through the collaborative efforts of three Angel networks.

With deals spanning a large area of the Northern Powerhouse; Newcastle Angel Hub, NorthInvest and the Women Angels of the North Syndicate have worked with northern businesses and entrepreneurs to secure equity investment for growth via a series of joint pitch events.

Surgery Hero is one of eight northern businesses to gain a share of more than £4m worth of investment.

Founded in May 2020, Surgery Hero has seen a spike in demand for its services as a result of the pandemic, with one in eight people in England now on surgery waiting lists.

The business is currently commissioned by multiple Integrated Care Systems in the UK and is committed to provide over 8,000 programmes for people currently awaiting surgery.

The £2m worth of seed funding the firm has been awarded will be used to scale its solution to be able to support more people undergoing surgery, as it begins an expansion to the US where roughly 50 million major surgeries are performed each year.

NorthInvest and the Newcastle Angel Hub bring investors together and connect them with businesses at all stages of growth seeking investment through regular pitch events throughout the year.

Jordan Dargue, board director at NorthInvest and Women Angels of the North Syndicate founder, said: “These recent deals are a perfect example of how angel networks can collaborate to help northern entrepreneurs access investment.

Estelle Blanks, CEO of Innovation SuperNetwork, said: “The partnership between NorthInvest, Newcastle Angel Hub and The Women Angels of the North syndicate is centered on our collective passion to help businesses across the North gain investment to ultimately grow, thrive and stimulate our regional economies.

“I’m so pleased for the eight businesses across the North that have gained investment and look forward to seeing what these businesses do next.”

The Newcastle Angel Hub is delivered by Innovation SuperNetwork as part of the Catalysing Innovation in North East Clusters Projects 2021-2023, and is part-funded by ERDF.

The Regional Angel Investor Accelerator programme, funded by Innovate UK, provides matched grant funding for businesses, which de-risks investment for angel investors.

This is led by the North East Business and Innovation Centre and delivered by the Innovation SuperNetwork and NorthInvest in partnership with the UK Business Angels Association.

The Women Angels of the North syndicate is the only women-only angel syndicate in the North of England, founded in July 2021, offering support to female investors and encouraging investment in female founders.

Click here to sign up to receive our new South West business news...
Close