With more than £80 million deployed across 200 SMEs, the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II) has had a standout first year.

As the equity fund manager for the North West handling NPIF II – Praetura Equity Finance, we’ve deployed more than £15 million over the last 12 months to support 26 businesses, across five regions in the North – all united by their ambition to scale.

These start-ups span urban hubs in Greater Manchester and Merseyside, across to emerging clusters in Cumbria, Lancashire and Cheshire. The investment has crossed local geographies, sector niches and transcended individual growth plans.

It’s not just cash, either. We’ve offered support and advice to start-ups at 168 speaking engagements and grown our network by attending 236 founder-focused events. These have ranged from the Barclays Eagle Labs in Cumbria to Tech Climbers in Liverpool, key events in Alderley Park, and Manchester Digital’s Start Up Activator.

Why is this important? Because northern start-ups and scale-ups are aiming higher than ever before, and we want to ensure that Northern businesses get the same opportunities as those in the South.

Alongside the British Business Bank, we’re beginning to close the gap. But we have an opportunity to go further.

The regional funding gap has been widely documented. We know that around 81% of venture capital investment is currently deployed in London and the South East, leaving a shortfall for firms outside that boundary.

This isn’t because Northern founders are short on bold ideas. What’s been lacking historically is access to capital. With NPIF II, that’s beginning to change. As a Manchester-based investor, we’ve long championed rebalancing the º£½ÇÊÓƵ’s entrepreneurial economy and we’re now starting to see a more equitable flow of funding.

This mandate has opened doors to exceptional talent - entrepreneurs we may not have reached without this fund. And the ripple effects of this are not to be underestimated for these growing ecosystems.

Deals making a difference

We don’t just focus on the funding, we look at the real-world impact on the Northern economy. The investment is already helping shipping companies to keep their boats clean, doctors to predict their patients’ mental health issues, robotics developers to innovate faster and farmers to deliver groceries more sustainably. This money is helping solve problems.

Among this year’s success stories are Ruuby, a tech-driven, on-demand beauty services platform, which secured £1.5 million to expand into Manchester and Liverpool. With new 200 beauticians projected to join and post-pandemic sales up 500%, it’s a clear example of capital unlocking growth in the North. The founder Venetia Archer has also attracted further investment from existing shareholders, including notable female angels Michelle Kennedy and Whitney Bromberg Hawkings, as well as former Bulgari CEO Francesco Trapani.

Street Group, an AI-powered proptech business, also raised £3.3 million through a joint investment from NPIF II and the Praetura Growth VCT. Its all-in-one CRM and marketing solutions for estate agents reflect the kind of scalable, home-grown innovation that thrives when backed properly. The Manchester-born business is led by Heather and Tom Staff, sibling founders with long-standing personal routes in the property market.

We’ve also doubled down on early-stage development with our second PraeSeed cohort - a programme supporting pre-seed founders through capital, workshops and mentorship. Backed by NPIF II, it ensures that even emerging ventures get the support they need to grow from day one.

The road ahead

While economic headwinds remain, the appetite for growth in the North is clear. There’s still a substantial amount of capital left to deploy from our NPIF II pot, and what’s refreshing is the variety of businesses we’re seeing apply for funding. We’ve had applications from spinouts, scale-ups, and start-ups that span consumer, leisure, life sciences, advanced manufacturing, retail and technology.

It’s given us renewed confidence that this Fund is becoming well-known in the ecosystem, with a growing sense that the region isn’t just competing with London and the South East anymore, it’s forging its own path on an international stage.

We can’t wait to see what the next 12 months holds. Our pipeline is full of exciting businesses and some really inspiring founders. For many of us working on the ground, it feels like this progress is building into something much larger long term.

  • Louise Chapman is investment director and NPIF II Fund Principal at Praetura Ventures