Praetura Ventures has made a double hire into its North West investment team.
Camilla Greenwood and Klarissa Nura have joined from LDC and Maven Capital, respectively, after Praetura was named the fund manager for the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II – Equity North West mandate.
It will see £100m of the total £660m North-wide fund dedicated to helping North West businesses scale, providing loans from £25k to £2m and equity investment up to £5m.
Praetura’s North West investment team now numbers 11, with the total number of female investors within the team at five.
New investment director Greenwood joined LDC’s North West team in 2021 after starting out at PwC and brings with her a wealth of investment experience, having been at the heart of the North’s private equity sector.
Nura, who joins as an investment associate, worked on a number of notable deals during her time at Maven and will be responsible for supporting the deployment of capital from NPIF II.
“We are lucky to enjoy a wealth of investment talent in the North West, and that is evidenced by the work done by Camilla and Klarissa over their careers so far,” said Louise Chapman, NPIF II Fund Principal at Praetura Ventures.
“We are delighted to be welcoming both of them to our growing Praetura team in what is shaping up to be one of the biggest years for us to date, following the launch of the £660m NPIF II and outstanding growth in our portfolio.”
Greenwood said: “There is a wealth of knowledge within the team of scaling early-stage businesses which will be put to good use in a flourishing Northern market.”
Nura added: “I’m so excited to join the Praetura team. They’ve got a renowned reputation for backing the best businesses in the North’s ecosystem with their ‘More Than Money’ support. I can’t wait to get started.”
The announcement comes after Praetura Ventures’ June launch of PraeSeed, a cohort-based investment programme supported by NPIF II funding aimed at funding up to eight pre-seed stage businesses annually.