Entrepreneur Paul Haydock has launched Founder Fundraising – a new service aimed at helping Northern tech founders raise investment.
Haydock previously raised one of the biggest rounds of investment outside of London for one of his own businesses, DueCourse (now Autopaid). The £6.25m funding round included investors such as the founders of Zoopla and Lovefilm.
The cloud-based invoice financing service for SMEs went into administration last July, less than a year after securing the funding, with Haydock telling Prolific North: “We have decided to close one of the companies in the group as part of a planned restructure.”
Haydock also co-founded MyParcelDelivery.com (now Sorted Group), a parcel delivery comparison site, and has more than 10 years’ experience with investors, VCs and scaling businesses.
He said: “The funding gap between the North and the South isn’t a myth. It really exists. I personally want to help champion the region’s tech start-ups and level the playing field.
“As a founder it is hard enough to grow your business, hire staff, build the product and service existing customers. To simultaneously plan and execute a professional fundraising campaign can often be a stretch too far for many founders.
“Using my experience of raising investment, I can take some of the load off Northern founders and connect them directly to the right investors so they achieve the best outcome as quick and painlessly as possible.”
“At the moment, around three-quarters of all investment goes to London companies. However investors from all over the UK and around the world acknowledge that significant innovation is happening up here.
“Despite the uncertain times we are in, the region is thriving and entrepreneurs from all walks of life are continuing to launch new products and services. I’m passionate about helping to grow the vibrant Northern tech scene and I’m now looking to actively connect with entrepreneurs who are thinking of taking on investment to accelerate their businesses.”
