Northstar Ventures is a venture capital firm which invests into high growth businesses and high impact social enterprises in the North East. We had a chat with Laura Richards, the Marketing and PR Manager for the firm, about the funding available for SMEs.
‘We’re looking for strong teams with a really great idea. If a new business needs proof of concept funding, or an established business needs financial support to scale up, we can help.’
Northstar Ventures works exclusively with businesses based in or with significant operations in the North East, and every investment that it makes either creates or safeguards jobs in the region. The Finance for Business North East Accelerator Fund invests in early stage businesses that are seeking finance to grow or scale their operations, while the Proof of Concept Fund supports the very early stages of business creation within the technology sector.
‘We understand that people don’t know absolutely everything about investment,’ says Laura, ‘and that’s ok, that’s our job. You don’t even need to have a business plan to contact us; we can help you with that too. We want to work with forward thinking people that want to do something interesting.’
‘Northstar Ventures provides long term, ongoing support – it’s not just financial. We can help with recruitment, we can connect businesses with suitable advisors, or supposing we can’t provide funding then we’ll try to put them in touch with investors that can. It’s about working together to get the company in a really good position.’
‘It’s exciting to be a part of,’ Laura continues. ‘There are some really innovative companies coming out of our region, and it’s something the entire team wants to see continue. We really believe in supporting the North East economy through investment and business creation.’
If your business needs funding to get off the ground or to expand its services, Northstar Ventures might be the solution. ‘Most of our investments start out with a cup of coffee and a conversation,’ says Laura. ‘We’ve got £6m to invest in 2016. If your business needs funding, we want to hear from you.’
