North East fintech company strengthens for continued growth

A growing North East financial technology (fintech) company has hit a series of milestones as it celebrates its fifth anniversary.

Growth Capital Ventures is an FCA-authorised investment firm launched in 2014 to help investors build a diversified investment portfolio whilst helping entrepreneurs raise capital to launch and scale high growth businesses.

Co-founder and CEO, Norm Peterson said: “The past five years have seen the business evolve significantly. We started life as a technology-led investment firm developing and launching www.growthfunders.com, an online co-investment platform connecting investors to high-quality growth-focused investment opportunities. Initially, we focused on early-stage business with high growth potential but our investment activity has expanded over the past five years to include growth-focused property transactions too.”

Five years after launching, the business has hit a number of key milestones and GCV now employs a team of 22 and has facilitated £35 million of investment into some of the North’s most exciting high-growth businesses including challenger banks, Atom Bank and Bank North, and technology businesses, Hive.HR and Intelligence Fusion. GCV’s property team has created a pipeline of property-based transactions which will deliver more than 300 high-quality homes throughout the North East over the coming years.

Now, as it prepares for further expansion, GCV has restructured the business and its senior operations team.

Norm Peterson said: “The new structure means we have the right people in place to support our next phase of growth which will involve expanding the G-Ventures investor network and the formal launch of G-Labs, an in-house venture builder.”

In preparation for future recruitment and growth, there has been a series of internal promotions. Tony Short has been promoted to programme director; James Drew becomes chief technical officer within G-Labs; Dave Forster becomes chief technical officer within the fintech division; and Sarah MacNeil has been promoted to creative director working across all brands. Elsewhere, Grace Matthews recently joined the business as marketing manager across all business divisions.

Norm added: “We’re really excited about this next phase of growth; the Venture Builder model is a new concept in the UK. G-Labs has been created to help technology-focused start-ups to launch and scale fast. We have assembled an experienced team of software engineers and start-up specialists. Working alongside entrepreneurs and co-founders, we support our ventures from start-up to scale, to exit. We invest more than just funds; we invest our knowledge and experience, our ideas and our infrastructure.”

James Drew, chief technical officer at G-Labs, said: “This is a key differentiator for GCV. For entrepreneurs and co-founders, we are a powerful partner that can help them raise capital and take care of building and launching their core software product whilst they focus on engaging potential customers to build and shape the business.”

The Venture Builder model will also provide high-quality deal flow for GCV’s growing investor network.

Craig Peterson, co-Founder and chief operating officer, said: “We now have over 200 investors in the G-Ventures network and over 7,000 registered investors on www.growthfunders.com, our online investment platform.

“The businesses we support through G-Labs appeal to our investors as they gain confidence from the thorough due diligence and preparation process we take each and every G-Labs business through before raising capital. Combine this with growth-focused property transactions and we help our investors build a diversified investment portfolio that has the potential to deliver better returns than traditional mainstream investment products and, in many cases, take advantage of lucrative tax incentives.”

The last five years have seen the team grow from just two to 22 people. GCV’s portfolio companies and property transactions have created more than 300 high-quality jobs and the team is looking forward to the next stage of growth which will involve strengthening the team further over the coming months.