A final year computing student at Manchester Metropolitan University has secured a £200k investment from Praetura Ventures’ PraeSeed program for his start-up company BidScript, a business he co-founded with his childhood friend.
Tyler McCarthy, currently studying a degree in AI & Data Science at Manchester Met, co-founded the company in October 2023 with childhood friend Henry Brogan.
BidScript is an AI enhanced software that helps companies with the more time-consuming aspects of bid-writing and management. It was highlighted by Prolific North as one of its tech companies to watch for 2024.
McCarthy said: “Bid-writing takes a lot of time. It can take months for some bids to be completed. It’s extremely tedious, but it’s also a problem that can be automated. That’s what my startup does.”
BidScript has already acquired customers in the UK, USA and UAE after securing a Microsoft sponsorship worth nearly £25,000. The software was also exhibited at the 2024 WebSummit, the annual technology conference in Lisbon.
The success of BidScript is thanks to the hard work and education of both founders but McCarthy also alludes to their longstanding friendship.
He said: “My co-founder, Henry, and I have known each other from the age of twelve. We went to high school together and then to Sixth Form. We even took the same A levels and GCSEs.
“We parted ways when we went to university. Henry is at Loughborough University studying economics with finance and I’m doing a computer-science based degree, but we’ve always wanted to do something together.”
The pair have worked with several different businesses to gain experience, including Tyler’s placement year at BMW as a Data Scientist. Their combined experience paid off, with Tyler focusing on the development and maintenance of the software and Henry managing the business and operations aspect. The programme currently has around twenty users, with sectors ranging from software to engineering.
McCarthy added: “It’s only been a year. It’s taken us about a year to get to this point. We’re at the very early stages yet but we’re working to improve all the time.”