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Founders from 22 ambitious Northern firms join GC Angels scheme to ‘widen access to venture capital’

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Programme aims to support under-represented founders

Members of the second cohort of the Venture Forward accelerator programme

Members of the second cohort of the Venture Forward accelerator programme(Image: The Growth Company)

Ambitious firms from across the North have won backing from a venture capital project that helps under-represented founders to prepare for their first institutional investment round. GC Angels, the VC investment arm of The Growth Company, has announced the second cohort of its Venture Forward accelerator programme.

The scheme is delivered by GC Angels’ investment managers and aims to give founders the skills they need to win their first VC investment in the next 12 months. The first programme, which ran between October and December last year, saw five of the 30 participating founders win investment within two months of the project finishing.

The second cohort will see another 22 “high-potential businesses” from across the North take part in an eight-week programme in Leeds including one-to-one mentoring, practical fundraising guidance and direct access to investors. Once GC Angels has completed the programme, it will offer up to £500,000 to “standout founders” to help them scale up their businesses.

GC Angels says it has been “prioritising founder diversity in its recruitment” for the latest cohort. It says some 55% of founders in Cohort 2 are from an ethnic minority background while 55% are female founders – “significantly higher than industry averages and reflective of the programme’s mission to widen access to venture capital”.

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Some 23% of founders involved are from Manchester, with 23% from Stockport and 14% from Leeds. They work in areas from construction and e-commerce to sports and agriculture technology.

Marc Shirman, GC head of equity investment, said: “The success of our first cohort demonstrated both the scale of underrepresented talent across the North and the clear need for targeted early-stage support. It was great to work with these founders and to invest in five of them, playing a critical role in their growth journey.

“The quality of applications for Cohort 2 was exceptionally strong, allowing us to continue building a cohort that reflects the diversity and ambition of the region. Venture Forward goes beyond just preparing founders to pitch, giving them insight into investor thinking, boosting confidence, and creating connections that result in real investment.”

The Northern businesses joining the latest cohort

  • vox ANN: Founders Daniel Bottomley, David Bilsborough, Tom Crompton, Rob Tong
  • Biosecure ID Limited: Founders Natalie Tyler, Yogesh Prasad
  • Oaysa: Founder Mark Collier
  • KitchenAI: Founder Gavin Mackay
  • Sineco: Founder Ben Etches
  • APIMS: Founders Simon Hall, Sarah Speake, Khalil Ibrahimi
  • Liaura: Founder Hugh Shepherd
  • Pathways Open: Founders Amanda MacCannell, Sandeep Sharda
  • Cocoon Digital: Founders Emma Thornton, Nicolas Lagoutte
  • Topic Hero Ltd: Founder Dr. Primal Rayan
  • Laika Family: Founder Hanna Latif-Walmsley
  • SportTrack.ai: Founders James Davies
  • Xerogrid Ltd: Founders Alison Butterworth, Ian Emberton
  • LetPlant Technology: Founder Tolu Salami
  • ND Axon: Founder Michael Jakubiak
  • The JADE App: Founders Kamila Malavia, Dhaval Malavia
  • FLAG-Me: Founders Lisa Riste, Leigh Wharton
  • GET RUDE: Founders Nancy Scotford, Peter Walker, Martin Gozdnik
  • Classhoppa: Founders Olivia Cooley-Dawes, Siobhan Fox
  • Clareo Health: Founders Leroy Tonge, Navya Sharma, Priya Mangat
  • Building Impact Tech: Founder Renée Preston
  • Gynomics: Founder Dora Marcec
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Undercovered Dozen: Western Midstream, Applied Digital, The Trade Desk, And More

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Undercovered Dozen: Western Midstream, Applied Digital, The Trade Desk, And More

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Some tickers are covered more than others on the site, so with The Undercovered Dozen our Editors highlight twelve actionable investment ideas on tickers with less coverage. These ideas can range from “boring” large caps to promising up-and-coming small caps. Specifically, the inclusion criteria for “undercovered” include: market cap greater than $100 million, more than 800 symbol page views in the last 90 days on Seeking Alpha, and fewer than two articles published in the past 30 days. Follow this account to receive a weekly review of twelve of these undercovered ideas from our valued analysts.

Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, and no plans to initiate any such positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it. I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given that any particular security, portfolio, transaction or investment strategy is suitable for any specific person. The author is not advising you personally concerning the nature, potential, value or suitability of any particular security or other matter. You alone are solely responsible for determining whether any investment, security or strategy, or any product or service, is appropriate or suitable for you based on your investment objectives and personal and financial situation. The author is an employee of Seeking Alpha. Any views or opinions expressed herein may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank.

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Oil Price Today (April 20): Crude oil jumps 6%, nears $100 again despite ceasefire hopes. What’s happening?

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Oil Price Today (April 20): Crude oil jumps 6%, nears $100 again despite ceasefire hopes. What’s happening?
Oil prices staged a sharp rebound on Monday, rising more than 6% after plunging over 9% in the previous session, as tensions flared again around the Strait of Hormuz. The latest spike followed fresh accusations from both the U.S. and Iran, each blaming the other for violating the ceasefire by targeting ships over the weekend.

On the geopolitical front, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that American forces had seized an Iranian cargo ship attempting to breach its blockade. Iran, in response, said it would not take part in a second round of peace talks, despite Trump’s warning of renewed airstrikes.

Crude oil price on April 20

Brent crude futures climbed $6.11, or 6.76%, to $96.49 a barrel by 2327 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate rose $6.53, or 7.79%, to $90.38 a barrel.Before the conflict, the strait accounted for roughly one-fifth of global oil supply. The war, now nearing two months, has severely disrupted these flows.

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Market movements remain highly reactive to developments, with oil prices swinging on shifting signals from both sides rather than any clear improvement in supply conditions. The intermittent movement of vessels through the strait highlights the deep uncertainty surrounding the world’s most critical energy chokepoint. Even if tensions ease, a full recovery in oil flows is expected to take several months, experts warn.
On Saturday, Iran tightened its grip over the strait in response to the U.S. blockade, reportedly firing at several vessels and declaring the route closed. This came just hours after it had announced a temporary reopening during a 10-day ceasefire.

What are experts saying?

Brokerage firm Macquarie said that even if tensions cool, oil prices are likely to remain supported in the $85 to $90 range, with a gradual move towards $110 as supply through the Strait of Hormuz improves. It added that if disruptions persist through April, Brent crude could climb as high as $150 per barrel.

Analysts broadly believe crude may be entering a phase of structurally higher prices. With the ceasefire seen as temporary, a return to pre-war levels of $70 to $75 may take several months. In the near term, they expect prices to stay within a range of $80 to $85 on the downside and $95 to $100 on the upside.

Nuvama Institutional Equities cautioned that prolonged closure of the strait, which handles about 20 million barrels per day, could drive crude prices into the $110 to $150 range.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

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Concurrent Technologies Plc (COTGF) Discusses Full Year Results and Leadership Transition with Strategic Business Updates Transcript

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OneWater Marine Inc. (ONEW) Q1 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Concurrent Technologies Plc (COTGF) Discusses Full Year Results and Leadership Transition with Strategic Business Updates April 17, 2026 6:30 AM EDT

Company Participants

Miles Adcock – CEO & Executive Director
Kim Maria Garrod – CFO & Executive Director

Presentation

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Operator

Good morning, and welcome to the Concurrent Technologies Plc Final Results Investor Presentation. [Operator Instructions]

Before we begin, I would like to submit the following poll. And I would now like to hand you over to CEO, Miles Adcock. Good morning to you.

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Miles Adcock
CEO & Executive Director

Good morning, and welcome to our full year results for 2025.

Next slide, please. So my name is Miles. I’m the CEO. This is my fourth set of annual results, and I’m joined by Kim, our CFO. And I should note that at the same time as we issued our full year results, we also announced that Kim has decided to retire at the end of this year. My good friend and colleague, Kim, do you want to say a few words?

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Kim Maria Garrod
CFO & Executive Director

Yes. So I achieved a milestone birthday this year, and that made me rethink what I was going to do. So I have decided to retire, but I’m in the business until the end of the year. I’m very excited about the business, and I will be watching it very closely after I’ve gone, and I’ll be regularly calling Miles for updates. But I’m fully committed to the business. And as I say, I’ll be taking out for most of this financial year.

Miles Adcock
CEO & Executive Director

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Thank you, Kim. And just to note, Kim has generously given us until the end of the year to seek a replacement, and I’ve engaged Korn Ferry this week, and we’re working hard at finding a worthy successor.

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