PXN Ventures and the British Business Bank have agreed an £80m extension to NPIF II – PXN Equity Finance, taking the fund’s total size to £180m.
Since its launch in 2024, the fund has received over 3,000 applications and invested over £45m across 50 businesses, disclosing more than £50m in additional co-investment.
NPIF II-PXN Equity Finance provides equity investment of up to £5m to businesses across Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria. Its portfolio includes software, artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, fintech and climate technology.
The extension follows a period of exits for PXN and the businesses it has backed. Most recently, Manchester-based property software company Street Group secured investment from Hg in a transaction that valued that business at more than £200m.
The deal generated a 4.4x return across PXN’s participating funds, less than two years after PXN made its largest-ever initial investment in a business. Street Group was the sixth exit for PXN in the last year, with the businesses involved in those transactions collectively valued at more than £400m.
PXN has also used NPIF II funding to launch PraeSeed, a cohort investment programme combining a six-week-investor-readiness programme with the opportunity to secure £200,000 of equity investment.
The programme aims to address a shortage of first-cheque capital available to pre-seed founders and provides participants with access to PXN’s co-investor network.
The £660m Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II covers the North of England, providing loans of £25,000–£2m and equity investment of up to £5m to support small and medium-sized businesses.
Louise Chapman, NPIF II fund principal at PXN Ventures, said: “Street Group is a great example of the outcomes that can be achieved when talented Northern founders have access to the right capital, connections and support. We want to find the next generation of standout businesses and help their founders scale them from the North West.
“I’m also incredibly proud of the founder diversity we’ve managed to achieve to date. More than one in three of the businesses backed through the fund are founded by women, and our latest PraeSeed cohort is the most diverse yet.”
Sue Barnard, senior investment manager at the British Business Bank, said: “The strength of demand during the fund’s first two years demonstrates the depth of ambition and innovation across the North West. It has been an excellent start, and this extension will enable us to build on that momentum alongside PXN Ventures.
“The British Business Bank is committed to helping ambitious businesses across the UK’s nations and regions access the finance they need to grow. The fund is already galvanising significant private capital into a region with so much potential, showing what can be achieved when public and private investment work together.”
