Manchester-based private equity investor Palatine has pumped £5m into fast-growing, UK-based primary research platform Techspert with funding from its Growth Credit Fund to “drive headcount growth and further develop its AI offering.”
Techspert’s AI-driven platform connects clients, such as pharmaceutical and biotech companies, with relevant subject matter experts facilitating interviews, calls, surveys and bespoke interactions to gather insights, which enable faster and more informed decision making in research projects.
The fully remote global business, initially founded in Cambridge, has a database of 25m healthcare profiles covering 5m specialisms, with 400,000 actively engaged.
Palatine has provided Techspert, which is already backed by BGF and Nauta Capital, with the £5m in funding to fuel its plans for job creation, as well as platform and AI development.
The investment will support the hiring of around 20 employees in 2026 across sales, marketing and customer success teams, along with the development of AI research and market intelligence tools, which will help find experts even more effectively, generate end-reports for customers, and provide new primary research intelligence offerings which will boost productivity and growth.
This marks Palatine’s 11th deal from its Growth Credit Fund, which launched in January 2024 to support maturing, high-growth companies in the UK regions experiencing double-digit year-on-year revenue growth.
Michael Ginn (left), investment director for Palatine Growth Credit, said: “Techspert represents the kind of innovative, high-growth company we are passionate about investing in with our Growth Credit Fund. Our ability to fund headcount growth, which traditional lenders often avoid as it can reduce short-term profitability before driving future revenue generation, makes us the perfect partner to support the team at Techspert achieve its goals. With plans for these new hires in 2026 to help drive new product development, we’re excited to support Techspert’s next phase of growth.”
Dave Holden (right), CEO of Techspert, added: “This partnership with Palatine will unlock accelerated growth for us. Fuelling expansion of our AI Research Tools and market intelligence offering in particular, as we develop a full suite of end-to-end healthcare research capabilities to deliver faster answers to strategic questions to those who need them.”
The Palatine Growth Credit Fund supports companies in the cyber, fintech, SaaS, healthtech, medtech, AI, and advanced manufacturing sectors in the burgeoning technology ecosystems of the North, Midlands, South West, and South East. The fund sits alongside sustainably driven investor Palatine’s established Buyout and Impact private equity funds. Palatine is headquartered in Manchester with additional offices in London and Birmingham.
