New Investment platform Britain’s Got Start-Ups hopes to redirect business investments to North of England

The event series is hosted by Leeds-based investment banking firm Novus Capital, and will see start-ups and scale-ups pitch to a range of investors.

After an event in Manchester on 2 November, Britain's Got Start-Ups will hold events in the South West, Midlands, and East of England.

The best pitches from each region competition will then be sent on to a series finale event with international investors present.

Jenson Brook, managing director of Novus Capital, moved back to Yorkshire from London last year after working for Deloitte and PwC.

He said: “What we’re trying to achieve with Britains Got Start-Ups is to put early-stage Northern businesses on a platform, and assist investment into the region.

“The ecosystem in London is completely different to anything in the regions, because of the maturity, the concentration of wealth. I moved back up North to Leeds last year, and noticed there was quite a disparity.

“What I’m trying to do with Britains Got Start-Ups is, firstly to bring people from London and the surrounding areas to the North, but also to create collaboration between Yorkshire, the North East and the North West.”

At next month’s Manchester event, Novus Capital expects around 120 attendees, and has already doubled the amount of people that applied to the initial Leeds launch.

Businesses based in the North East, Yorkshire and the North West who want to raise up to £10,000,000 are eligible to pitch.

Though this event series’s final will be held in London, the firm hopes to move future events into the North of England. Novus Capital also plans to include Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland in next year’s series.

Novus Capital has also announced its plans to create a Leeds-based team to work on the Britain’s Got Start-Ups project. The firm intends to hire ten people over the next year, and is looking towards hiring 40 to 50 people over the next three to five years, as the event series grows.

Data from Beauhurst published in June shows that 35 per cent of all high-growth companies are based in London.

Just 3 per cent are located in the North East, with 9 per cent located in the North West.

The data shows that when the regions are collated, the North/South divide becomes even more apparent. London and the South have a similar share of high-growth companies, with a combined 68 per cent, while the Midlands has just 12 per cent, and the North with 19 per cent.

The number of equity deals completed in each region since 2011 also shows a similar spread, with London receiving 50 per cent, and Yorkshire and The Humber being responsible for just 4 per cent.