The highly anticipated Liverpool City Region tech accelerator, Baltic Ventures, has taken residency in Baltic Creative’s Digital House. Taking a ground floor studio, the space will offer the organisation prime real estate in the heart of Liverpool’s digital and creative hub.
Baltic Creative CIC, acted as one of four key partners within the accelerator, along with Mark Rathbone of Brabner’s, Form and LivingLens co-founders, Carl Wong & David Woods. For their part, Baltic Creative brought property sector experience and knowledge to the table and facilitated conversations between the partners and LCRCA.
Baltic Ventures has been established as a new not for profit company and is backed by £4.1m of funding from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. It will create a platform to support northern tech businesses to access angel and VC investment without needing to head to London.
New data, released by Tech Climbers in Liverpool City Region, reveals 75% of businesses are looking for funding to grow this year, with almost three-quarters on the hunt for Seed or Series A capital. Baltic Ventures will provide participating companies with £50,000 in equity funding plus provide a 4-month tailored programme to accelerate growth and create opportunities that are often lacking outside of the capital. The programme is particularly focused on working with under-represented and diverse founder teams. Baltic Creative was set up specifically to support the growth of creative & digital industries in the region and Baltic Ventures has been developed to build on the success of the growing cluster. Since its inception in 2009, Baltic Creative has helped to grow the Baltic Triangle into a prime location as a digital hotspot, making it the perfect base for Baltic Ventures, amongst some of the region’s most exciting brains.
Baltic Creative CIC will also work with existing tenants and Baltic Ventures to help signpost specialist support and opportunities within the businesses that occupy the region while also encouraging more to come and invest within the area. The Baltic Ventures Accelerator 2023 opens for applications in April.
Lynn Haime, CEO of Baltic Creative said: “ It’s great to see this work come to fruition and that we’re able to accommodate them in our community. It’s our hope that their future tech cohorts will make beneficial connections with other like-minded, digital and tech organisations. ”
Claire Lewis, CEO of Baltic Ventures said: “We’re delighted with our new home; from our hyper-local, creative district base in the Baltic Triangle, we plan to harness the Liverpool City Region’s superpower energy and liveable city status as a vital and invigorating launchpad for our founders.”