Fintech investor Growth Capital Ventures (GCV), has secured £1m growth capital from institutional investors to continue its expansion.
Investment from the current round will enable GCV to support 30 high-growth start-ups and create hundreds of new tech jobs within the North East through its venture builder unit, G-Labs. It will also enable GCV to increase internal headcount from 22 to 40 in the next 12-24 months.
The firm reports having facilitated £45m of investment in high-growth tech businesses – including digital lenders Atom Bank and B-North, and employee engagement platform Hive HR – and the creation of more than 600 new jobs in the past five years.
Craig Peterson, co-founder and chief operating officer at GCV, says: “Over the past five years we have been on a mission to support entrepreneurs and innovators to build and launch high-growth businesses that transform industries.
“The fundraise will not only increase our capacity with further quality hires and expand our venture builder arm but in turn will enable the creation and scaling of the UK’s next wave of innovative tech start-ups.
“As consumers and businesses are relying more on technology as a result of Covid-19, we feel this investment comes at the right time to combine capital and intensive support to build better, more sustainable businesses.”
The company started life predominantly as a FinTech company, developing and operating online investment platforms focused on alternative investments.
Formally launching their first platform GrowthFunders.com in 2015, the company has since built an extensive private investor network across the North of England.
GCV operates across three core business units – a private investor network, a specialist FinTech software division and an innovation lab.
The private investor network, G-Ventures, brings together an online and offline investor network of private investors and institutional investors to co-invest in growth-focussed investment opportunities.
Peterson added: “Through our three business divisions we’ve developed a powerful approach to creating, launching and scaling high-growth businesses. We have the capability to support the start-up and expansion of several ventures that have the capacity to add real value to the UK’s tech industry. This sector will be vitally important to the UK as the economy tries to recover from the devastating impact of the coronavirus.
“Our aim now is to invest in and support exciting new projects that can build, launch and scale businesses, creating much-needed jobs at a time when employment is falling due to Covid-19.”