A NORTH East venture capital team has won a major national award. Newcastle-based Northstar Ventures picked up the Early Stage Team of the Year award at the annual British Business Angels Association dinner in London.
Northstar chief executive Marion Bernard said: “We’re delighted to have been named best in Britain. As the judges’ comments stated, Northstar has been instrumental in making investments – and raising funds – across a number of stages and sectors in an extremely challenging environment.
“Since its inception in 2004, Northstar has consistently backed ambitious management teams across the North East. Our investment team is dedicated to providing close support for its investee companies. This award recognises the huge efforts made by the team at Northstar to help local entrepreneurs turn innovative ideas into great businesses. This is a ringing endorsement of our early stage funding activities, and we remain committed to helping entrepreneurs create and develop high-growth businesses in the North East region.”
The Northstar team has so far invested more than £6.5m into 21 early stage companies on behalf of the £20m Finance for Business North East Accelerator Fund.
Many of these investments attracted additional support from business angels and, in total, £20m has been raised for its portfolio of early stage companies across a range of sectors.
