18th March, 2009

Investors and venture capitalists are heading to a major conference in April to plough their cash into the brightest ideas from young British technology companies.

Venture capitalists from London, Scotland, Northern England - and possibly Saudi Arabia and the rest of Europe - will see pitches from nine cutting edge companies which are producing answers to some of the world’s most pressing national security problems.

Each of the companies will bid for between £250,000 and £1m of funding at the Secure Futures Investment Conference, on April 28 at Hardwick Hall Hotel, Sedgefield, County Durham, England.

The event has been organised by CONNECT North East, a networking organisation which aims to marry money men with the brightest ventures in the technology field.

The network began in San Diego, California, in 1985, in response to a serious economic downturn. It proved a great success and has helped 1,000 technology company start-ups and facilitated more than $600m in funding into 300 companies. The network has since been rolled out across the world.

Caroline Theobald, managing director of Newcastle-based Bridge Club Ltd, which is delivering the CONNECT North East project, said: “There is amazing talent in the North East of England and there are all kinds of technology in universities, in innovation clusters, and in existing companies which have growth potential which people don’t necessarily know about.

“We’ve had interest from across the world from investors because they recognise that this is a great opportunity to put their money into innovative companies which, with the right backing, will become world leaders in their field.

“With representatives from the British Government, security experts and private and public sector organizations attending, it will also be a great networking opportunity with many potential clients at the event.”

Bridge Club Ltd is working with a number of regional partners to deliver the CONNECT North East project including Finance Tree, Newcastle Science City, North Star Equity Investors and Sedgefield-based NETPark.

For more information log onto www.connectnortheast.com. Individual tickets for the investment conference are priced  £147 plus VAT from 26 March, or £97 plus VAT if ordered before March 26.