John French

👏 Welcome to the NPIF II x Praetura Ventures portfolio, Audiebant! 🗞️ We’re pleased to announce our latest investment after backing Lancashire-based mass communications and public safety specialists Audiebant. 🔊 Founded in Kirkham, the company provides a range of solutions to ensure critical announcements and messages reach the public in crisis situations or emergencies – be it an act of terrorism or extreme weather. ⚽️ The company also has use cases for non-critical events, such as safety broadcasts or crowd control during sporting events and music festivals. 📣 Audiebant cuts through, ensuring mass communication through audio networks, mobiles, PCs and outdoor tech (including digital displays). This is paramount to public safety and is necessary for events companies and venues, following new legislation. 🇺🇸 Audiebant raised the money from NPIF II – Praetura Equity Finance, which is managed by Praetura as part of the British Business Bank’s Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II. The company will now use the funds to develop its solutions as well as continuing its expansion across Europe and the US. 👏 Following this deal, we’re looking forward to working closely with Josh Dean, Ian Rose and the Audiebant team. Well done to Peter Carway and Laurence Tan, PhD. for their work on this deal as well as Gateley (who advised us) alongside Alvarez & Marsal and Beyond Law Group who advised Audiebant. 👏 Thank you also to Sue Barnard, Suzanne Tinkler and the British Business Bank North of England team for their continued support. Check out the full story via Insider Media here: https://lnkd.in/gvX74zfd #VC #Investment #NextInTheNorth #NPIFII

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‘'Lighting the Spark’... 💥 New animation showcases 619 Jobs created and 507 New Learners assisted through Funding secured from the Government’s Getting Building Fund' Enterprise Oxfordshire are pleased to launch a new animation showcasing the outcomes of six Projects Funded by the Government’s Getting Building Fund, a Fund set up to kickstart the UK Economy following the outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemic. With the six Projects now complete, Enterprise Oxfordshire are pleased to share through the video that the Fund has also seen assistance provided for 383 Businesses, 256 Jobs safeguarded and 2441 new super/ultrafast Broadband connections enabled in Rural Areas. Titled ‘Lighting the Spark’, the new video offers an update on previous projected outcome figures shared through another animation launched back in 2023, through the following Projects: 💡 - Mini TESA (The Energy Systems Accelerator) pilot  🧪 - The Clinical BioManufacturing Facility enabling works  🏘️ - Meanwhile in Oxfordshire…  🏗️ - The Green Construction Skills Centre  💻 - Digital Investment Plan (Rural Gigabit Voucher Programme) 📈 - The Business Investment Fund ➡️ CLICK HERE to Know More:  https://lnkd.in/eBJy-MWq Enterprise Oxfordshire Skills Enterprise Oxfordshire Business Enterprise Oxfordshire

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At The Power Hive event last Friday in Manchester, a stat from Paul Sharpe stopped me in my tracks: 📊 85% of training budget goes on sales and business development 📊10% on account management 📊 Just 5% on management/ leadership training The conversation in the room was the balance between sales and account management and how releasing new sales from existing client relationships is often more effective than cold outreach. But what was going round in my head was this: What happens if that 5% on leadership doesn’t increase? Because without managers who can give feedback, coach, and lead effectively, all the investment in sales training risks falling flat. So if you're responsible for sales and recruitment teams in particular, there are 3 questions to ask yourself: ❓Are my managers multiplying the impact of sales training - or holding it back? ❓Do they know how to coach and stretch their people, not just manage the numbers? ❓What extra return could I see if I gave them more support? ⬆️Sales training builds skills. 🎯Leadership training makes it more likely those skills stick - and improve even further over time. 👉 If this hits a nerve, let’s talk about how I help managers make every pound of training count. Keith Southern

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The Business of Training Conference is about #value. Creating, showing and proving value is of the utmost importance in any case and certainly now. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) quarterly survey shows, for the first time ever, that more companies predict to shrink than to grow. #directors of #TrainingProviders face many challenges and now it’s not just technology and changing customer requirements but also the economy. #economy #BusinessOfTraining https://lnkd.in/eR7E4742

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Exciting discussions taking place at the #LCRTalkingBusiness event at Aintree Racecourse. Steve Rotherham, Mayor of Liverpool City Region spoke of preparing LCR to lead in the 4th Industrial Revolution - focused on AI and creative industries, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, and materials sciences. A new £10m seed fund will back early-stage, high-growth businesses in these sectors. Katherine Fairclough, CEO at Liverpool City Region Combined Authority reinforced the region’s commitment to inclusive growth, championing fair opportunity across the North and tackling long-standing imbalances in national investment. Kate Downes, also from Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, shared key insights driving the development of the Local Growth Plan 2025–2035. She highlighted a £6 billion opportunity in closing the region’s productivity gap through investment in innovation, skills, and evidence-led action. The core message was clear: improving productivity is the central mission of the new growth strategy. #LCRGrowthPlan #PoweringBusiness #Productivity #InclusiveGrowth #Skills

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I’m really pleased to announce a new partnership between BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT and the Police Digital Service - supporting digital capability, professional standards and ethical practice across UK policing. Through this collaboration, 470 officers and staff will have access to BCS membership, recognised registrations like MBCS, RITTech and CITP, and digital skills frameworks including SFIAplus. All of this helps build a confident, future-ready digital workforce. My thanks to Chief Constable Rob Carden, Edward Preece, and Tony Eastaugh CBE for their leadership and commitment to strengthening policing through digital excellence. I'm proud that BCS can play a part in supporting public trust and ensuring technology is used responsibly to keep our communities safe.

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South of Scotland Enterprise's Pathways Pre-Start Programme is opening doors for entrepreneurs. Now in its second phase, the programme has: • Delivered specialist coaching to over 700 existing or prospective business founders • Helped to create over 220 new businesses Watch for more.

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