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North West businesses to gain from crowdfunding boost

New and growing businesses across the North West will benefit from a boost in the way that companies gain finance.

It has been announced that both Manchester and Liverpool will be among the very first cities across the UK to have their own crowdfunding centres.

Plans for the nationwide network of Venture Funding Hubs were revealed at a crowdfunding conference in Sheffield today.

Organisers of the deep impact conference revealed that Sheffield will be the first of the Venture Funding Hubs to begin operation in January next year, followed by Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Each of the centres will provide free expert advice to businessmen and women looking to start or expand their companies.

The announcement comes just days after the publication of a report suggesting that the total amount of crowdfunding or ‘peer-to-peer lending’ in the UK this year was expected to reach £1.74 billion.

The study by Cambridge University and Nesta, a charity which promotes innovation, also forecast that the domestic crowdfunding market would more than double to £4.4 billion by the end of 2015.

Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg MP,said: “I’ve made clear my own ambition to double the number of tech jobs in the North to help create a stronger economy. To make this happen access to finance is critical, so that we can see start-ups and growth within existing tech businesses.

“I would urge investors - big or small - to back this great initiative when the crowdfund goes live.

“Not only will there be great investment opportunities, but it will be a chance to help our local tech talent create a Northern Tech Hub to rival Berlin, New York, or Shanghai.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sophia Taha .