New Documentary Explores the Realities of Investment and Future of Finance for British SMEs
As the British economy looks set to grow in 2025, a brand new film is set to launch which explores all sides of the investment table for UK SMEs.
The Future of Finance, the latest in a series of new documentaries from the North East’s Innovation District Newcastle Helix, is being officially released at 10am on Tuesday 28th February 2025.
From the fascinating stories of businesses who have secured game-changing investment, to the expertise of people who have provided those funds, The Future of Finance explores what it takes - both professionally and personally - to grow a UK business.
The film finds out how bioscience businesses on the Newcastle Helix site, which is home to a wide range of organisations including The National Innovation Centre for Ageing and The National Innovation Centre for Data, have achieved their success.
The entrepreneurs behind NunaBio and CellRev, two Helix-based businesses making phenomenal strides to support medicine manufacturing and application, share their own experiences with bootstrapping, grants and equity investment.
For NunaBio CEO Joe Hedley, bootstrapping his venture demonstrated his passion to other investors down the line: “I think it shows a huge level of commitment to the business, particularly when you're asking others to commit,” he explains in the film.
CellRev CEO Chris Green gives his view of the importance of understanding the end goal for investors: “The reason an investor invests in your business - and I think it's important that all founders, all entrepreneurs, all CEOs, understand this - is ultimately because they want to make more money, and your job is to make them more money. It's as simple as that.”
Business support is explored in the film by experts at the NatWest Accelerator - which is also based at the Helix innovation site - as well as theInnovation SuperNetwork. The film shares insights from the Venture Capitalists in the form of NorthStar Ventures and crowdfunding expertise from Next Gen Planners.
Sophie Gowling, Enterprise Acceleration Manager at NatWest Accelerator, explains: “When you're raising finance, you are not alone. One of the things that we want to focus on is to make sure that business owners feel really comfortable to talk about their business and the value that that provides.”
The Future of Finance follows The Future of Collaboration, and is part of a wider series of films to highlight the wealth of development and business growth taking place at Newcastle Helix, a growing community of businesses and research facilities all seeking to drive innovation.
John Seager, Estates Director at Newcastle Helix, commented: “The key to creating regional economic growth is about ensuring the success of as many businesses as possible – nurturing the talent and fostering true, home grown, innovation is the essence of what we do at Helix.
“The opportunity to learn amongst peers and collaborate is one of the things that makes Helix special and I think our latest film in The Future of series will be really interesting for burgeoning entrepreneurs – The Future of Finance – a great place to start!”
To watch the film, go to https://youtu.be/qfqP9B5T1gA?feature=shared.
