Fhunded puts the ‘F’ into Lancashire’s LIFT festival

Innovators, investors, and business leaders from across Lancashire gathered at Burnley Football Club’s Turf Moor stadium earlier this month for LIFT 26; a landmark regional conference which showcased the strength of Lancashire’s growing tech and innovation ecosystem.

Hosted by CEO of Capital Enterprise, Jonny Clark, and co-produced by Innovate Lancashire in partnership with Fhunded and Lancashire Digital Hub, LIFT (which stands for Lancashire Innovation, Finance and Tech) saw insightful observations and practical takeaways shared with over 150 business owners, entrepreneurs, and influencers.

Chair of the Lancashire Business Board, Mo Isap, set the tone for the day with a heartfelt address which articulated the challenges faced by founders wanting to start or scale an innovative business in Lancashire. Following Mo’s inspiring opening comments, LIFT’s programme of dynamic group discussions, honest interviews, and powerful keynote presentations, commenced.

One of the core LIFT themes was the key role which access to finance plays in the development of early-stage businesses, and several of the sessions were specifically programmed by Fhunded to explore this vital topic.

These included panel discussions featuring leading investors from outside of the North West, such as Alex Heerema, VC investment manager at Ascension, and Sarah Barber, managing partner at Jenson Funding Partners.

Alex said: “There’s a tendency for funders to stick to things happening around London, but to me it’s really important that talented founders get access to all the different pots of money which are available. Events like LIFT are therefore crucial, as they foster connections which otherwise wouldn’t happen.”

Sarah said: “At LIFT, I was impressed by the diversity of the conversations I had, not only with founders and other investors, but also with people from other parts of the ecosystem. The room has also been full of people actively engaging with each other, and there’s a real buzz in the air. Having such high levels of connection is always a sign of a great event.”

Another investor from outside of the county was musician turned tech entrepreneur, Hazel Savage.

Hazel, who sold her Musiio AI business to SoundCloud in 2022, heads up the Leeds Angels syndicate in West Yorkshire. She took part in a fascinating conversation with Fhunded’s Kiran Mehta about her roller-coaster career, from punk guitarist to exited founder.

Hazel said: “LIFT has been brilliant. You couldn’t go anywhere without hearing an interesting conversation between an investor and a  founder. The venue was amazing, the coffee was excellent, and the content was very high quality. It’s also been great to have such a vibrant tech investment event held somewhere you probably wouldn’t expect to find one.”

Funding was also central to a candid fireside chat between Jane Theaker from SpinXperts, and Fhunded programme lead, Rory Southworth, while James Butcher – a founding member of Lancashire’s Fhunded Angel network – brought a more hyper-local perspective to the event.

James said: “For places like Lancashire, events like LIFT help to educate people about the investment process, and the dos and don’ts when seeking funding. The more of that we have, the more opportunities we can create; helping to grow the regional economy, and generating more local prosperity, in the process.”

In addition to early-stage finance, other cross-cutting themes emerged throughout the day which resonated with both founders and the funders.

These included several core business growth drivers which already underpin Fhunded’s activities, such as the power of partnership, the value making new connections face to face, and not being afraid of reaching out and asking for help. Like Fhunded’s ‘meet the investor’ events, a majority of the attendees also commented on how welcoming, accessible and supportive the atmosphere was at LIFT.

Overall, delegate, participant and sponsor feedback to LIFT 26 was overwhelmingly positive, with the finance element mentioned by many as being a real point of difference.

The buzzy, collaborative and energising atmosphere generated throughout the day – which continued into the post-event evening networking session – was also highlighted as a standout element of the festival.

If you couldn’t attend LIFT this year, you can now get a flavour of the event via this 60” recap video.