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Alice and Adam discuss crowdfunding by an e-scooter business, founded by the father of F1 superstar, a major student accommodation scheme in Belfast, and a new headquarters for Caddick Construction.

Transcript

00:00A business founded by the father of an F1 superstar, funding for a music-focused social

00:05media app, and the construction group's new headquarters, featuring today's business

00:10briefing.

00:11Hello, I'm Adam Beach.

00:12And I'm Alice Bird.

00:13Well, Adam, as you know, I am a Formula 1 fan, so we've got quite a fun story about

00:24an e-scooter business which was founded by the father of a Formula 1 driver, which has

00:29launched a multi-million pound crowdfunding campaign.

00:34So Pure Electric was established by Adam Norris, who was obviously the father of Lando Norris.

00:40Adam has had a very successful career as an entrepreneur.

00:42He's known for scaling businesses such as Hargreeves Lansdowne, and he's already invested

00:47£60 million of his own money into Pure Electric.

00:51Since being established, it's done very well.

00:53In its most recent financial year, it turned over £20 million, and it's also got some

00:57big partnerships with global brands such as McLaren.

01:01Obviously that makes sense, that is the racing team that Lando races with.

01:06And it believes that it's well-positioned to lead the micro-mobility market, which is

01:10expected to reach $360 billion by 2030.

01:17So the new campaign has a maximum investment of £7 million, and it's already attracted

01:21attention from lots of high-profile figures across business and sport.

01:27I only keep up with F1 through Drive to Survive, really, but they sound like a successful family.

01:30They are, yeah, very successful.

01:32Anyway, staying in the world of crowdfunding, a social media app designed for music discovery,

01:38which was actually established by the co-founder of Crowdcube, Darren Westlake, has beaten

01:42its own funding target.

01:44Disco allows users to share and discover music by seeing and hearing what their friends or

01:51different artists and DJs are listening to.

01:54The company has actually reigned well over its £100,000 target, and it plans to use

01:58that funding for app development through investment in its tech team and supporting key marketing

02:04initiatives, such as referrals and new partnerships.

02:10That sounds quite interesting.

02:11I bet as well it's quite cool to see what artists are listening to, like the ones you

02:15listen to, what music they like.

02:17The artists you're already into, you get a sense of their taste and you can follow them

02:20and see what they like.

02:22We'll definitely want to keep a look on.

02:25Yeah.

02:26Well, moving over to Belfast, plans for a student accommodation scheme in the Titanic

02:30quarter look set to move forward after being recommended for approval.

02:35So Watkin Jones Group and Lacuna Developments are behind the plans for the scheme, which

02:40is earmarked for land off Olympic Road, sorry, off Queen's Road and northeast of the recently

02:47built Olympic House.

02:49So the application is seeking permission for four blocks of accommodation with heights

02:52ranging from five to nine storeys.

02:55Altogether there'll be 1,007 units.

02:57There'll be a mix of cluster rooms and studios.

03:01So alongside the recently constructed Olympic House, the application site also borders Belfast

03:06Metropolitan College's Titanic campus.

03:09And obviously there's lots of other uses in the surrounding areas, such as hotels, offices

03:14and the Odyssey complex.

03:16Student accommodation seems to have moved on a lot from when I was at university.

03:19Agreed.

03:20Seems much nicer.

03:21Anyway, also in property, Caddick Construction Group has pledged its commitment to Wakefield

03:27with the launch of its new headquarters.

03:29The company is relocated from its former site in Nottingley, where it was actually based

03:34since it was established back in 1979.

03:38The launch of its Calder House office follows a £3.8 million renovation project, which

03:42has seen the site grow from, I think, 11,000 to 15,000 square feet, and the site's home

03:48to 130 employees.

03:50So definitely a significant space.

03:52The company's managing director said the office space represents a strong economic future

03:56for Wakefield.

03:58And I think that's all from us, isn't it?

04:00Yeah.

04:01So if you want to read more about that story or any of the stories we've discussed today,

04:04you can do so on insidermedia.com.

04:06While you're there, feel free to subscribe to our newsletters and our magazines.

Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 16th September

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