The cofoundery that’s enabled over 70 tech businesses, including a Dungeons & Dragons inventory app, a hand hygiene improvement system for hospitals and a foetal monitoring wearable for expectant mums, has launched a fresh round of funding to grow its UK and international expansion. Nova’s portfolio growth stands at more than 80% year on year for the past 10 years. The 30-day crowdfunding round will add to the £400,000 lead investment that the Liverpool-based Nova has already raised.
Nova’s programme startup founders have raised over £10m to date and gone on to create a range of ingenious tech businesses. Hy-genie tackles the infection control epidemic that affects over 300,000 patients and costs the NHS £1 billion per year. BitBaby who are targeting the £2 billion pregnancy market with an anxiety reducing wearable and app to track fetal development. And DLG whose tech enhances the experience of tens of thousands of players globally using Dungeons & Dragons tabletop gaming.
The fundraise will allow Nova to expand their offering with new hires in cities around the UK. The expansion will boost startup ecosystems, which are currently underserved.
As well as this, pilots of their programme are planned for Riyadh and Kuala Lumpur, with permanent locations to follow if these prove successful. Nova has ambitions to launch 40 more tech businesses next year. The new locations will enable the hubs in the UK and beyond to uncover and develop entrepreneurial talent. People are being invited to pre-register through Nova’s crowdfunding page to be granted exclusive early access to invest.
Nova CEO Andy Davidson explains;
“Our track record and the market data available demonstrates that starting a business with Nova means it’s five times more likely to succeed – and that’s a testament to the methodologies, processes and people that we’ve developed. We’ve now got an opportunity to scale our operations and that promises great things not just for our investors, but also the founders, the people who use our products and ultimately the economies of where we set these businesses up.
We want to allow more people across the world to realise their entrepreneurial ambition by starting and growing successful tech businesses with us. We hope that people will take up the opportunity to back our crowdfund and join us on this journey.”
Backed by notable investors including Sir Terry Leahy and Bill Currie, Nova’s business model is based on shared equity in startups rather than the typical service for a fee approach. The unique model has proven popular with fledgling founders. Nova has received over 2500 applications to join the programme this year. Despite such strong appetite to start tech businesses, more than 90% of tech startups will fail within 3 years.
Luke Lang, Crowdcube’s Co-founder and CMO adds, “Nova is an incredible business, working tirelessly to support start-ups through what can be a challenging journey to market and scale. Their community of entrepreneurs will be powerful and loyal champions as they expand. We look forward to working with them on their Crowdcube campaign.”
You can read more about Nova’s Crowdcube campaign here.
