“We are super-northern and proud of it,” said Jess Jackson, an investment manager at Praetura Ventures, a Manchester-based venture capital firm that backs emerging companies such as Modern Milkman and Peak AI.
The firm has just won the mandate to invest £100 million of a £660 million venture capital and debt fund, called the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund 2 (NPIF2), created by the British Business Bank, which is the government’s economic development agency.
Praetura takes over from Maven Capital Partners, which had the role for the first iteration of the fund in the northwest but has instead now picked up the mandate for equity deals in the northeast of England. The British Business Bank has six such funds, covering England’s regions as well as Scotland,
