Manchester's bid to become a global tech-hub in the North of England has been boosted by the arrival of US-based venture capital firm Beringea and a $9 million investment in local corporate payments startup AccessPay.
The funding round, backed also by US investors True Ventures and Route 66, is one of the largest ever investments in a financial technology company in the North.
It also marks the expansion of Beringea’s footprint away from the bright lights of London, as the firm opens its first dedicated office in the region in central Manchester. This will enable it to tap into the thriving Northern network of scaling technology companies, lured away from the capital by the promise of cheaper real-estate and a young pool of professional talent.
Recent analysis by GP Bullhound showed the 100 fastest growing digital businesses in the North of England and Scotland generated revenues of £4.5bn in 2017, more than double the previous year.
Marc Shirman, investment director and head of Beringea’s new Northern office comments: “Manchester has an exceptional and rapidly growing fintech sector that we want to support. Great companies like AccessPay contribute immensely to the ambition of the North to be a global tech hub. Beringea will seek to provide the capital, expertise and transatlantic network to support the North’s entrepreneurs as they scale to become international success stories.”
AccessPay, which works to connect corporate back-end systems with global banking and financial services providers, was founded in Manchester in 2012.
Today, the company's technology is used by more than 500 corporate clients across the UK including Barclays, the AA, and ITV and processes over 40 million transactions a year.
The firm says it will use the new funding to expand its sales, marketing and engineering teams and further develop its software platform.