£33m early-stage tech funding for North East

The North East region is set to benefit from funds totalling £33m which have been raised by two new funds managed by the technology finance company, Nstar. Nstar, which was recently set up by the Regional Development Agency for the North East (One NorthEast) has secured the financing for investment in early-stage technology spin-outs in the North East area. The Proof of Concept Fund is a £10m fund aimed at very early-stage technology opportunities emerging from local universities and businesses, and will invest over five years. The fund is being financed by a combination of One NorthEast and the European Regional Development Fund. The second, larger, fund is the £23m North East co-investment Fund, which will target businesses requiring up to £2m of equity financing. It will provide only a proportion of the funding needed on any deal, co-investing with the private sector. Financial and legal support for the two funds was provided by the local offices of Deloitte and Ward Hadaway, as well as the Brussels office of Eversheds. Neil Mundy of One NorthEast said:â€These new funds will increase the level of support for innovation in the North East and we are delighted that talented researchers in our universities and technology businesses in our region will now have access to a range of world-class, equity-based venture capital funds that can support them through the key stages of their developmentâ€. The funds should be running by April, however finance is already available through the pilot for the Proof of Concept Fund.

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• UK / Ireland