fhunded, the venture capital initiative developed by Innovate Lancashire, recently  celebrated its first anniversary.

Now managed by Lancashire County Council, the fhunded programme was originally launched by Rory Southworth at the Fraser House co-working hub in Lancaster last July.

Aligned to one of the core objectives of the Lancashire Innovation Plan, fhunded was designed to bring together investors, founders and business support agencies from across Lancashire, and the wider North, to increase levels of tech and digital VC investment activity in the county.

Through a programme of regular ‘meet the investor’ events, investment-readiness masterclasses, and other interventions, it has now become established as one of the North’s most dynamic VC and early-stage investment programmes.

VC funds from across the North, including, Praetura Ventures, YFM Equity Partners, DSW Ventures, Par Equity, Seneca, Mercia and Solidbond, have all participated in fhunded events, as have advisors from NatWest, British Business Bank, GC Business Finance and KPMG.

It has also been revealed that over 51% of all equity raised in Lancashire in Q1 of 2024 was generated via the fhunded community, rising to 80% in Q2.  Examples include Fuuse, a Lancaster based EV software business which secured a series A round of £8.7m after meeting YFM at a fhunded event.

And Rory himself – who was recently promoted by Lancashire County Council to become the county’s first Investment Ecosystem Manager – was last year named as a key dealmaker in the North West by influential tech investment newsletter, PreSeed Now.

To mark the 12-month milestone, fhunded hosted one of its biggest gatherings to date at Fraser House last month.

Delivered in partnership with Par Equity and Manchester Angels, and supported by Northern Reach, over 70 delegates were in attendance.

David Levine from Manchester Angels used the event to advise on how best to engage with angel investors, while Par Equity’s Sunny Nagi brought a specialist technology VC’s perspective to proceedings.

In addition, a fundraising masterclass entitled ‘From seed to series A’ was shared with the audience.

Commenting on fhunded’s success, Rory Southworth said: “Supported by Innovate Lancashire and aligned to the Lancashire Innovation Plan, fhunded was created to give Lancashire’s ambitious and growth-hungry tech founders a platform where they could meet VCs, angels, and institutional investors face to face.

“It also offers a space where businesses can enjoy invaluable networking opportunities, take part in practical investor readiness clinics, and access other forms of business support, all under one roof. 

“As a result, we are now seeing great momentum in the county across all types of early-stage finance activity, with investors realising Lancashire is a region they can navigate more easily due to initiatives like fhunded being in place.”

The success of fhunded in Lancaster and North Lancashire has now seen it extend its engagement programme across other parts of the county. This includes a series of sessions being hosted Preston in August and September, with events in East Lancashire set to follow later in the year.

For to keep up to date with fhunded’s events and news, follow their LinkedIn feed.

You can also watch a short film – produced by Lancaster-based McGill Productions – which captures a flavour of the fhunded programme here.