Early-stage investment fund launches in North West

THREE entrepreneurs have teamed up to launch a £1m investment fund for early-stage businesses in the North West of England.

Matt Haycox, Simon Leeming and Dave Watson have set up The Elevate Programme to provide equity funding and support for businesses looking to scale up in the region.

Investment will typically range between £50,000 and £250,000, in return for an equity stake in the business of five to 25 per cent.

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The programme will be open for the first round of applications from October.

“We’ve seen first hand how hard it can be to scale up a business, whether that’s cash flow issues, or just as a director being too involved in the day to day running of things,” said Haycox.

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“The Elevate Programme will provide equity funding, and accelerated support from specialist partners in key business areas for everyone on the scheme.

“We’ll help companies with strategic guidance, and they can expect to see truly personalised help across sales and marketing operations, recruitment, finance, accounting and overall business strategy.”

Read more: How P2P plugged the funding gap for small businesses