Newcastle companies team up to create investment programme

A new investment programme aiming to invest in and support more fast-growing tech businesses in the North East has been launched.

Venture capital firm Northstar Ventures is partnering with management consultants AuxinOKR, both based in Newcastle, to deliver the Execute Co-Investment Fund for entrepreneurs.

The project is partly funded by the North East Innovation Fund and is supported by the European Regional Development Fund.

The programme will see one-to-one expert business support as well as £50k investment given to start-up businesses, including those at a very early stage or with a single founder.

Ian Richards, director of Northstar Ventures, commented: “We know that ambitious entrepreneurs need different kinds of support to be able to scale their businesses rapidly.

“By providing not just funding but also specific one-to-one support, this new programme will identify the ideas and founders that have the potential to become successful fast-growing companies, and by offering the right kind of flexible support enable them to be ready for further investment at the end of the programme.”

Paul Callaghan, partner at AuxinOKR, added: “We’re really excited about this investment strategy and helping to create fast growing technology companies with first class founders.”