Northern tech companies shouldn鈥檛 have to head to London to find a tech accelerator to help grow their business.
That鈥檚 the view of Carl Wong, co-founder of Liverpool-based LivingLens, which was acquired by tech giant Medallia in 2020 for $26m.
The entrepreneur is now a serial angel investor and has set up a tech accelerator in his home city of Liverpool to provide the same sort of help he had to go to London to find when he was growing LivingLens.
Called Baltic Ventures, it鈥檚 being run by experienced Claire Lewis, who explained how it hoped to find and help future Northern-based unicorns.
Speaking at last week鈥檚 LCR Tech Climbers event, where the great and the good of the region鈥檚 digital tech sector were recognised, CEO Lewis explained how Baltic Ventures would work.
鈥淏altic Ventures is a tech accelerator,鈥� she told 老九品茶Cloud. 鈥淥ver the next five years we鈥檙e going to be running five accelerator programmes.
鈥淐ompanies taking part will get 拢50,000 investment from angels and we鈥檙e based in Liverpool.
鈥淐arl鈥檚 vision is to create the opportunities that are available to founders in London, in the North.
鈥淲e have an international vision and ambition for what we鈥檙e doing. We鈥檙e a tech accelerator that just happens to be based in Liverpool.
鈥淲e鈥檙e open to founders all over the world. We鈥檙e specifically looking to work with early stage companies that already have a product and some traction so they have an MVP.
鈥淲e鈥檒l look at how we can accelerate that growth. They鈥檙e probably thinking about how they can raise seed funding or pre-seed.
鈥淲e鈥檒l help them speak the language of investors, be pitch ready and give them all the insight they need to accelerate their business and avoid the pitfalls that many entrepreneurs fall into.
鈥淚t鈥檚 about establishing Liverpool as a desirable place for founders to build and scale successful tech businesses. This is a place where international tech companies can be successful.鈥�