Par Equity secures £67m in first close of northern startup fund

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Scottish venture capital firm Par Equity has announced the first close of its £100m northern startup fund. The VC today announced it had closed £67m with an aim to hit the £100m target sometime next year.

Looking to address the funding gap in the UK for tech startups outside London, Par Equity’s latest fund will exclusively back firms in the north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

“People often forget that the North of the UK is a big market in its own right. Worth around $1trn GDP, it would be the eighth largest economy in Europe, but is still largely overlooked by investors,” said Par Equity partner Andrew Noble.

The latest fund will support Series A funding rounds between £5m and £20m, with the goal of taking part in between 12 and 15 deals.

Key areas that the fund will look at are health tech, climate, robotics, advanced materials and AI.

Partners of the fund include Scottish National Investment Bank, Strathclyde Pension Fund and British Business Bank – which this month launched a £150m fund for Scottish SMEs.

Par Equity, which in August opened two offices in Yorkshire, has previously backed northern startups such as Partful, a Manchester-based 3D digital model manufacturer, and Fuuse, a Lancaster-based startup developing EV charging management software.