Lancashire has an established investment ecosystem but what more can be done in the notoriously underfunded early-stage space?
Lancashire County Council joined forces with 老九品茶Cloud to identify the missing piece of the jigsaw.
Where are the angel investors? Are the routes to pre-seed and seed investment signposted well enough? Do university spinouts know where to go? Are private equity and venture capitalists interested in early-stage companies?
These were some of the questions discussed by a panel of founders, investors and intermediaries.
What do investors want?
Amin Vepari is the business finance and scale up lead at Lancashire County Council and shared a quote he鈥檇 recently read on LinkedIn.
鈥淭here鈥檚 no reason why Lancashire can鈥檛 be the Brooklyn to Manchester鈥檚 New York,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 loved that quote when I read it. Give that some thought. If you鈥檝e been to Brooklyn and New York you鈥檒l know exactly what I鈥檓 talking about.
鈥淲e have to build around what angel investors want. We have to focus on the investors as well as the founders because they鈥檙e the ones putting their money here.
鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to have people that care. There are lot of things underway but it鈥檚 about piecing it all together聽and making a difference.鈥�
County is unique
Matt Currie is an investment director and growth investor at Seneca Partners and said Lancashire needed to be play to its strengths
鈥淲e need to create an ecosystem that is unique to Lancashire and the North West,鈥� he said. 鈥淪ometimes we can think 鈥楳anchester does it well, Liverpool does it well, we need some of these incubators鈥�.
鈥淭he ecosystem has to work for everyone in it and I think fundamentally the biggest gap is finding one that works for angels. In my view Lancashire鈥檚 angels are slightly unique. They are a bit more down to earth and a bit more camera shy than the ones you get in central London or on the middle of Manchester.鈥�
Share success
Rory Southworth is the investment ecosystem lead at FHundED and the manager of Lancaster-based Fraser House, which is now home to 120 tech businesses.
Southworth said replicating the community-focused approach in Fraser House across Lancashire would be a game-changer.
鈥淟et鈥檚 take what we鈥檝e got in Lancaster and take it across the county,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 trying to find key people in those regions that I can work alongside.鈥�
Create space to grow
Mike Gibson is the CEO of EV charging management software firm Fuuse, which raised a 拢2.5m investment round in 2023 led by Par Equity.
He was the also the founder of Digital Lancashire and said: 鈥淲e need to celebrate success. We don鈥檛 do enough of that in Lancashire. 聽The bigger one for me is create spaces to grow. There are amazing spaces in Manchester and Liverpool but there isn鈥檛 really in Lancashire. Fraser House is that.
鈥淓vents like this are really useful. I鈥檝e always been told that a CEO should be a 鈥榗hief explorer of opportunities鈥�. We have to get out there and meet people.
鈥楲ancashire needs actions, not words鈥� to realise business potential
鈥淲e need to build on what works and not what doesn鈥檛. It鈥檚 all well and good to say you can build a Fraser House in every town. That doesn鈥檛 work. You have to accept what the strengths are in that local community.
鈥淚t all starts at schools and universities. One of the proudest things I鈥檝e ever done is the digital advantage programme in Lancashire. That鈥檚 been an inspirational programme.鈥�
Tell the story
Sue Barnard is a senior investment manager at British 老九品茶 Bank, which has recently launched the 拢660m Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund 2.
She said: 鈥淐reate the space but more importantly tell everyone about the space. You can鈥檛 keep companies in Lancashire if you haven鈥檛 got that space.
鈥淭ell the story. I promote everyone and anyone who gets investment, whether it鈥檚 from us or someone else. With people like Praetura Ventures (as partners) I know we鈥檒l tell the story. If we do a deal everyone will know about it.鈥�
Cash with support
Praetura Ventures will manage equity deals up to 拢5m in the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund 2.
Group marketing director Ben Davies: 鈥淭his won鈥檛 surprise you but for me the missing piece of the jigsaw is cash with the right support and the right education at the really early-stage is still the thing that we have to focus on in the next five years.
鈥淲e also need to celebrate our successes but also not only the break-out businesses but also the people who are creating the ecosystem.
鈥淲e鈥檙e big enough to be globally ambitious here but small enough to root for each other. It鈥檚 amazing how if you need help from someone down the road to you they鈥檒l generally give it in North of England. I personally don鈥檛 think you get this in the South East.聽 We have a period of time to leverage that.鈥�
University links
Matthew Hirst is the CEO of Chorley-based energy tech firm ESG and said Lancashire needed an established business community
鈥淔or me it鈥檚 brilliant being in Lancashire for our UK HQ,鈥� he said. 鈥淣ot everyone wants to go into the city and there鈥檚 a lot of tech talent in Lancashire. What we need better for companies like ours are links into universities so we can bring that tech talent through, even to the point of influencing some of the programmes of the graduates that are coming out.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 a problem of attracting investment into companies in Lancashire. On the contrary, Lancashire-based companies are attracting finance from Manchester, London, even the States.
鈥淭he caveat is that once you鈥檙e at a certain level. If you鈥檙e at a couple of million ARR I think it鈥檚 quite easy. From what I鈥檓 hearing today it鈥檚 below that and the pre-seed funding where the issue is.
鈥淔or me there鈥檚 no real sense of business community in Lancashire. I know a lot more people in Manchester, London and New York than I do in this room.鈥�
To die for
Paul White was one of the original founders of the Modern Milkman and is now the founder of The Patch App, which aims to digitise window cleaning and home maintenance services.
He said: 鈥淲hat I think is the ultimate in how you become successful is having a great idea and be willing to die for it.
鈥淭here are lots of great ideas in Lancashire but we haven鈥檛 necessarily been able to nail the 鈥榖e willing to die for it鈥� piece.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 because people don鈥檛 see the success here enough so, at a young age, people don鈥檛 think they can do it here. Whereas in the ecosystem in Manchester you think 鈥榯his city is successful, there are lots of successful businesses, this person is just like me and I can do it鈥�.鈥�
Be more vocal
Nikki Whittle is the head of corporate at Brabners in Lancashire and regularly advises business owners on scaling up.
She said: 鈥淲e need to get those success stories and tell people within schools and within universities that they don鈥檛 need to go outside Lancashire to meet their goals and aspirations.
鈥淧eople need to be able to see that we have these brilliant businesses doing brilliant things and they could be the next person doing that.鈥�
Better signposting
Derry Green is the owner of Skelmersdale-based The Secret Garden Glamping and recently appeared on Dragons鈥� Den. Prior to that he received 拢250,000 from Lancashire County Council’s Rosebud Finance after a chance conversation.
鈥淚 assumed investment was for tech companies, if you鈥檙e making a new app or something like that,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 even contemplate someone wanting to invest in a glamping site in Skelmersdale. It didn鈥檛 event cross my mind. It was only because I had the chance meeting with Access to Finance that I even sat down to speak about it. For me it was a learning curve.
鈥淲e employ 18 people and everyone is based in Skelmersdale. It鈥檚 creating jobs for them and roles for them to step into.鈥�
More awareness
Mark Gibbons is a lead advisor at Lancashire County Council鈥檚 Access to Finance and said it was vital to raise awareness about the funding and finance help that is available.
鈥淒erry (Green) mentioned that until he came to an event that Access to Finance co-supported he didn鈥檛 really know what options were out there,鈥� he said.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 part of the education piece for SMEs and small business owners. Awareness is a real key piece. We really need funders who are going to invest at that very early-stage. That鈥檚 what we鈥檙e missing.鈥�
Unearthing the superstars
Heather Waters is a regional eco-system manager at NatWest 老九品茶 and said public and private sectors needed to continue working together.
鈥淗ow do we help with more of those pre-seed businesses get on that right track?鈥� she asked. 鈥淭he ones that are ambitious and have got something that is investable to get on that journey because they鈥檙e the next superstars and big opportunity.鈥�
Central platform
Simon Capper, of聽Buckshaw Bunnies Childcare, called for the creation of a platform for entrepreneurs and startups to go to for help and support.
He said: 鈥淭here are a lot of ideas that have come out of this meeting today but if there was an area for someone like myself to go (for help) I think that鈥檚 the missing link personally. It鈥檚 as simple as that 鈥� the Lancashire Dragons! There should be somewhere where we鈥檙e flying the flag for Lancashire and everybody is involved in it.鈥�