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Alice and Stephen discuss funding for a Northern Ireland tech start-up, an eyewear company worn by Lando Norris, and regeneration plans in Bath and Leeds

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00:00Funding for a Northern Ireland tech startup, an eyewear company worn by Lando Norris and

00:04regeneration plans in Bath and Leeds. That's all coming up on today's Business Briefing.

00:16So Stephen, one of the stories I've seen this morning is about a female-founded technology

00:20startup based in Northern Ireland and the company has secured more than £800,000 which

00:26will allow it to expand its workforce and grow its customer base. Needy, that's spelled

00:31N-E-E-D-I, has developed a gift matching algorithm that basically ensures corporate gifts align

00:38with their clients ECG and sustainability goals. Now it's already secured some really

00:44big names as clients including KPMG, Microsoft and Spotify and in total it's raised £895,000.

00:53Now included in that are investors such as Techstart Ventures and £450,000 of that has

00:59also come from the investment fund for Northern Ireland's Equity Arm. So yeah, great news

01:04for them.

01:05Yeah, interesting stuff. Well, there's a couple of decent, interesting funding stories today

01:10in the newsletters. We've also got eyewear brand SunGod raising funding on the Crowdcube

01:15platform. You may have seen their sunglasses before, they're worn by the likes of Lando

01:21Norris, the Formula One driver and Geraint Thomas, the Tour de France winner. The company

01:26is also an official partner to the Ineos Grenadiers cycling team, McLaren F1, Major League Baseball

01:32and England Cricket and in 2023 it won a King's Award for Sustainable Department. So an interesting

01:38history to that one so far. The company has so far raised more than £2.6 million through

01:45its Crowdcube raise, which is well ahead of the initial £600,000 target. That funding

01:53is going to be used to help develop the company's wholesale channel, expand its licensing model

01:58with McLaren and MLB, expand in the EU and US and also grow its prescription category,

02:04which is good news to me.

02:05Really good news to you. You and Lando Norris could be twins.

02:10People I'm sure will say that, yes.

02:13Well, moving over to Bath, there's been some plans submitted for a new riverside community

02:20on the site of a former home-based store. So HUB and Bridges Fund Management are behind the

02:28mixed-use development, which is planned for vacant land on Pines Way. So the scheme has

02:33been described as transformative and it includes about 275 build-to-rent homes alongside 180

02:41shared living properties and more than 10,000 square feet of commercial space. So the applicants

02:47acquired the site earlier this year for £18.5 million, so quite a big acquisition. And the

02:54master plan has been designed following lots of community engagement. So after they completed

02:59the land deal, they hosted lots of consultation events where they chatted to more than 1,000

03:04people. So yeah, they've really kind of tried to make the design based around what local people

03:09would like to see, really.

03:10Good stuff. Well, up in Yorkshire, there are plans to redevelop a former police station in North

03:16Leeds on the council's upcoming plans panel meeting next Thursday, the 31st. So the former

03:24Wheatwood police station closed its doors in 2020. Since then, it has been used as a temporary base

03:30for TV production and also for childcare provision. Plans were submitted a couple of years ago now

03:36to demolish the police station itself and construct a new six-storey building

03:41that would then feature 127 apartments with between one and three beds. There's also plans

03:47as part of the development for a new co-working space and various sustainability features as well.

03:53Now, the head of the planning committee meeting next week, concerns have been raised about the

03:59affordable housing provision, sorry, but council officers are recommending approval. So we'll see

04:06what happens there. Yeah, that seems to be a bit of a trend that we're seeing. I know I've

04:09written stories in the North West and the North East about old police stations that kind of

04:15stopped having a use in COVID, I guess. And it seems like now turning them into flats seems to

04:21be the way forward. Well, yeah, brownfield development, of course, is a big area. We've

04:26covered lots of those stories recently. So yeah. Well, for more on any of the stories we've talked

04:32about today, visit insidermedia.com. You can also sign up for our newsletters and find out about

04:37our upcoming events. Thank you for watching. Thank you.

Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 25th October

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