Fhunded Angels, the Lancashire County Council-backed equity initiative, has appointed two senior venture consultants to strengthen pre-seed syndication and follow-on venture capital pathways.
Serial entrepreneurs Hazel Savage and James Butcher, both active angel investors, join the programme in advisory roles aimed at scaling early-stage capital deployment and improving investment readiness across regional deal flows.
Savage, former chief executive and co-founder of Musiio – which was acquired by SoundCloud – and current lead investor at West Yorkshire syndicate Leeds Angels, will focus on early-stage finance flow in Lancashire’s creative and technology sectors.
Butcher, an active non-executive director and existing syndicate member, will advise pre-seed startups on investor engagement, pitch deck development and capital structuring to bridge the gap into institutional seed rounds.
Since launching last year, the network of more than 50 private investors has deployed over £2m in pre-seed capital into regional startups, including electric vehicle charging firm TOGL, careers application UrFuture and climate technology firm UAP.
The council-managed network relies on Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) tax structures to leverage private syndicate capital alongside local economic development funding.
However, institutional co-investors continue to assess whether council-backed syndicates can standardise ticket sizes, valuation caps and governance to consistently deliver fundable deal flow to Series A venture capital funds.
Rory Southworth, programme manager of Fhunded Angels, said: “Hazel and James coming on board to support Fhunded Angels demonstrates just how vibrant Lancashire’s early-stage investment ecosystem currently is.
“To maintain a strong deal pipeline, we need to tap into the experience of people like Hazel and James. Their expertise will enable us to increase not only the volume of opportunities we’re putting in front of our investors, but also the quality and diversity.”
