Digital Tech: When is it a worthwhile investment?

Jack joined Potter Clarkson as a trainee patent attorney in 2018 and is now a Chartered and European Patent Attorney.  With a background in Chemical Engineering and industrial experience in the automotive sector, Jack advises clients across a broad range of technical fields, including surgical robotics and renewable energy systems.  In 2022, Jack relocated to Manchester and has spent the last year integrating into Manchester’s Tech Startup Ecosystem.  The majority of his clients are now start-ups and SMEs, with Jack acting as their ‘go to’ for all IP-related queries stretching well beyond the prosecution of patent applications.

Jason is a partner at Potter Clarkson with 15 years of experience in intellectual property.  As a Chartered and European Patent Attorney, Jason works across a wide spectrum of industrial design and engineering subject matter, using his broad technical expertise and IP consultancy skills to advise clients on all phases of their business from production to end product to commercialisation.  His clients range from start-ups seeking investment to SMEs needing a trusted IP advisor to multinationals requiring all-encompassing IP strategy and management.

Emma-Louise Fusari is the Founder of In-House Health. A Nurse for 21 years, Emma has acquired a vast wealth of knowledge and experience in the health sector, mainly through delivering public health programmes and chronic disease management initiatives.

Emma founded In-House Health to enable organisations to make a measurable impact on their people, performance and profits. Through clinically led, evidence-based and data-informed workplace health and wellbeing solutions In-House Health gets to the root cause of work-related ill health issues and provides actionable strategies and tangible results so that organisations can sustain a high-performance culture for innovation and growth.

Emma is a TalkTalk Northwest Women in Tech Award Winner (Tech for Good) and was recently named Innovator of the Year at Computing’s Women in Tech Excellence Awards for her pioneering HealthTech work.

William has been in the Growth Credit space for over a decade, and was part of the founding team that launched Barclays Venture Debt back in 2013. Deals he executed there included Shazam, which later sold to Apple.  William also led the UK Tech team for HSBC, and following this launched and led the Growth Capital offering for Shawbrook.  William joined Palatine at the start of 2023 to launch the Growth Credit Fund, a unique credit strategy that supports VC backed B2B growth businesses across the regions in the UK.

Manoj has been building tech startups and related ventures since 2004 with many failures and two Exits.  Northern Tech Awards and edocr.com were acquired by GP Bullhound and Accusoft, Inc respectively.  Manoj built Manchester’s Tech Startup Ecosystem from 2006 to 2013 by bringing investors and tech founders together through 100 tech events.  Today, Manoj runs Techcelerate (trusted tech founder community), Deal Lite (intelligence on UK venture-backed tech companies and investors who back them) and SkilledUp Life (skilled volunteers for tech startups).

Mark joined Puma in 2023 and is responsible for heading up operations in Manchester and expanding Puma Private Equity’s presence across the North.  After qualifying as a Chartered Accountant at PwC, Mark moved into corporate finance advisory, before joining a single-family office, where he spent more than ten years spearheading the investment activity and operations.  In 2018 he joined the newly established Manchester-based VC-house Praetura Ventures as Director of Investments.  He was part of the senior leadership team that grew the business to over £125 million AUM and invested in more than 30 fast-growth, early-stage businesses.  At Puma, Mark focuses on providing growth capital of between £2m-£10m into scale up companies across a range of sectors.

Sam is a senior partner in Cowgills and leads the corporate finance team. In addition, Sam heads up the Manchester office and leads the Technology, Media, and Telecoms (TMT) sector team.  Sam is a senior deal adviser having completed in excess of 100 deals, with extensive experience of completing deals, both as an advisor and as an investor.  His primary focus lies within the technology, media, telecoms, and consulting sectors.  In addition to his role M&A, Sam also provides strategic guidance to shareholders.  He understands the intricacies of value creation and business growth, positioning himself as a strategic partner, often working with clients over many years ahead of a transaction.  Cowgills is recognised by their peers as a market leader in lower mid-market advisory, through winning several industry awards.

Jess manages NatWest’s Entrepreneur Accelerator in Manchester, a funded programme that empowers UK entrepreneurs to grow their business to the next level. Jess has supported a number of founders through their investment journey, from supporting them to develop their pitch decks to a high standard to connecting them with key partners within the eco-system. As an advocate for inclusive entrepreneurship, Jess is involved with a number of initiatives designed to build the confidence of diverse founders to drive their business forward, including the TiE UK North Women’s Advisory Board and more recently, Meta’s She Means Business programme.

Claire Bennett is the Director of Sales and Partnerships at IN4 Group, an award-winning skills, innovation and business growth services provider that drives prosperity throughout the UK through educational enrichment and economic empowerment, headquartered at MediaCity, Salford. She holds a BA (Hons) in Journalism and spent several years working in the media, including LadBible Group, before transitioning into business development. Claire has crafted her sales career over the past 17 years, having previously worked for Sony to launch their first 3D TV. She further honed her business development skills in the property and construction sector for five successful years before joining IN4 Group in 2020. Claire leads the sales organisation at IN4 Group, supporting a team of five with their verticals across the business – Skills City, HOST and Programmes.