The Greater Manchester Combined Authority comprises ten local councils and the mayor, working to improve the city-region and attract investment.
Portfolio
6
companies
BankiFi
BankiFi supplies embedded banking and open cash management technology for small and medium businesses.
My First Five Years
My First Five Years operates an educational technology platform offering personalised guidance for early childhood development.
Shopblocks
Shopblocks provides a flexible ecommerce platform for building custom online shops at scale.
B-North
B-North is building a regional SME lending bank for the United Kingdom.
Twine
Twine is a freelance platform connecting companies with quality independent talent.
Immersify Education
Immersify Education develops interactive learning tools for university students.
David Molyneux
GMCA Lead for Investment and Resources
The funding round was led by Praetura Ventures to support the company's global expansion.
"With investments into technology companies starting to slow, this is a huge endorsement from our investors that proves we’re doing the right things as a business at BankiFi,"
The Manchester based educational technology start-up secured the capital from Greater Manchester Combined Authority and five regional private investors.
"We’re thrilled to have secured the funding which will allow us to continue operating for at least the next 15 months. We’ve got ambitious targets for growth, including content and app development, and this funding is vital to helping us in the next stage of our journey."
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority led the seed follow-on round to accelerate international expansion and team growth.
"A few years ago, as businesses outgrew basic template-driven platforms such as Shopify, Wix and Squarespace, their only option was to have a specialist digital agency create a bespoke solution for their needs which requires a lot of time and a huge budget."
The Manchester-based fintech secured £2.2m in a round led by Praetura Ventures alongside the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
"SMEs and early-stage innovators are a vital pillar of our economy and will play an important role in UK's post-pandemic recovery, but many continue to be hampered by inadequate banking services. BankiFi want to change that by putting banks at the heart of businesses' day-to-day needs. Before the pandemic, invoice cycles took a month on average, meaning most businesses didn't get paid for their services or products for more than 50 days. That delay has now increased to more than 70 days, putting immense pressure on the cashflow of many SMEs."
The Manchester-based challenger bank secured the follow-on funding and media-for-equity deal as part of an oversubscribed round.
"I am delighted that GMCA continues to support B-North and we look forward to working with them to drive forward the regional economy."
The funding round was led by GC Angels alongside the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and private angels to support team expansion.
"Twine has incredible potential, and we are looking forward to watching it grow as more businesses turn to quality freelancers. We are particularly pleased that the investment comes during the Creative Scale-Up Programme, delivered by our sister company GC Business Growth Hub, which we support by encouraging investment into creative businesses like Twine."
The seed round was led by GC Angels to support product finalisation and team growth.
"It is a really exciting time for Immersify Education with the investment and support from such fantastic investors to take us through the final stages of development."
