How Giles Moore of Par Equity aims to promote innovation in Yorkshire
Anyone seeking to understand Yorkshire’s business community soon finds there is no substitute for placing corporate boots on the ground.
In the past, venture capitalists were often happy to jet into Yorkshire and hold court for just a day, before returning home without gaining any real insight into what makes the region tick. For Par Equity, local is beautiful. The early-stage venture capital firm is turbo-charging the expansion of technology companies within easy reach of its offices in Leeds, Sheffield and Edinburgh. During 2025, Par Equity plans to use its local knowledge to provide a shot in the arm for Yorkshire’s economy by backing more fast-growing businesses.
"We've built an incredibly strong pipeline,” said Giles Moore, Regional Development Manager at Par Equity, said. “We're now in conversations with about seven really strong businesses across Hull, Leeds and Sheffield.
"These opportunities are a mixture of deep tech, clean tech and enterprise software businesses, which is great to see. We are now starting to see a real change of the tide, where fast growing businesses are starting to realise they can raise funds where they are and build exceptional businesses here in the North.
"With Yorkshire being home to nine universities, nearly 18,000 students graduating in STEM (science, technology engineering and mathematics) subjects each year and a 56 per cent retention rate, the skills and talent are already here, which removes one of the major challenges start-ups had in the past.”
Par Equity, which was founded in 2008, channels capital through its discretionary managed funds by collaborating with institutional investors, university endowments and wealthy individuals to support innovators who are investing in the North.
Growing numbers of start-ups in Yorkshire are starting to find venture capital (VC) support on their doorstep, according to Mr Moore. "They know that there are more VCs in the north now, that have the knowledge and capabilities and appetite to invest in those companies, which in turn, encourages other start-ups to appear,’’ said Mr Moore, who previously co-founded and grew a number of technology companies, including Airstoc, the largest marketplace for professional drone pilots.
"We are starting to see more competition in the region, which is making VCs have to work harder and demonstrate why they would be the ideal partner. We've supported a lot of the angel networks and early stage initiatives which takes a lot of time and effort, including the KidsUp Accelerator based in Sheffield (which aims to position South Yorkshire as a leader in children's healthcare innovation).”
By the end of September 2024, Par Equity had invested in five companies based in the North of England. Over the last five months, it has also made investments into the healthtech company Little Journey, which was its first deal in Leeds, and Watercycle Technologies in Manchester. Combining these companies together, Par Equity hired and supported around 224 full time employees over the last year, a 7 per cent increase in jobs year-on-year.
Little Journey was co-founded by Dr Chris Evans and Sophie Copley in 2018. As an anaesthetic doctor and father, Dr Evans witnessed the distress faced by children and their families during hospital visits. The pair created the app to provide support for children undergoing elective surgery. Little Journey is now used in 100 hospitals across 11 countries and has localised content in 20 languages. It holds a “content repository” to support children and families through 12 procedures including MRI, mental health and neurodevelopment assessment and blood tests. In November, Little Journey secured £6m Series A funding, in a round which was led by Par Equity, to support global expansion and improve its products.
“This year, for us, the real focus is in Yorkshire and capitalising on all the opportunities here,” Mr Moore added. “Just last week, I met with 50 start ups. There's at least three or four out of those companies that are very exciting. The expansion of our team in Leeds has enabled us to have more feet on the ground to reach all areas of the region. So we're going to places like Hull and Huddersfield and Bradford and Doncaster; areas of the country that most London-based VCs tend not to visit. We hired six new people in the team last year; four in Edinburgh and two in Leeds. A lot of the Edinburgh team are spending more time in Leeds and across the North,’’ he added. "We've now got 15 people in the investment team covering Scotland and the North of England,’’ he added. "Having people on the ground allows you to understand the business landscape. You understand the challenges really well. You are able to build a deeper relationship, identify mutual connections and establish trust much faster. Also if, for example, you're a company based in Ilkley, it's very time consuming and expensive to keep coming down to London to meet VCs there.
"But we can be in places like Ilkley in half an hour. Once we've invested in them they will have a local VC, who can get to every board meeting and meet them if they have a challenge they require urgent help with.” Par Equity is also an advocate for female founded businesses.
“We were founding members of ESG_VC, which is a pan-European project to improve the ESG credentials of early-stage companies,’’ said Mr Moore. “We are big supporters of Lifted Ventures (an organisation that aims to increase the flow of early stage capital to female founders) and their mission, and in Scotland, we supported the launch of the first female angel investment group here, Mint Ventures.”
Par Equity believes in thinking big and for the long term, according to Mr Moore.
"We are working very closely, supporting local authorities across the North, and in particular within Yorkshire, helping them build out their ecosystems for the long term."