Government hunts manager for £150m northern scaleup fund

The UK government is seeking a fund manager for a £150m scaleup fund aimed at the north of England, according to Sifted.

That is the whole of the announcement so far: a sum, a region, and a vacancy at the top of it.

What the money will back has not been set out in public. Scaleup funds of this kind usually mean equity, but the instrument, the cheque sizes and the stage of company have not been described.

Nor has the government said which parts of the north qualify. The north of England covers three regions and several city economies with very different funding markets, and no boundary has been published.

The opening date is not in the public domain either. A manager has to be appointed before any founder can approach the fund, and that appointment has not been made.

For founders, the practical position is simple. Nothing can be applied for yet, and the terms that will decide whether a business is eligible will be shaped by whoever wins the mandate.

The people who can act on this now are fund managers, not founders. Anyone wanting to bid will need the procurement notice, and the deadline attached to it has not been reported.

The number to hold on to is £150m. Set against the scale of northern scaleup demand it is a single fund, not a market, and it will be spent according to a strategy nobody outside the process has seen.