Manchester Angels reaches 22 investments with double deal

Manchester Angels has taken its investment tally to 22 after backing London-based AI sales business Doris Labs in a £450,000 round and Manchester cyber security startup Ghost Shift in a £250,000 round.

The deals, announced in a 10 October report by BusinessCloud, also helped Ghost Shift secure £215,000 in matched funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). That brings the total capital unlocked for the Manchester company to £465,000.

What happened

Fuel Ventures led Doris Labs’ pre-seed round, with Manchester Angels joining investors from the business-to-business software sector. The funding backs a company developing tools to connect information that sales teams gather across different systems.

Ghost Shift’s separate pre-seed round involved Manchester Angels alongside Cambridge Angels, Ante-Bellum Angels and Halceon. Richard Fallon, chairman of Manchester Angels and leader of its cyber investment sub-group, led the network’s involvement.

The amounts raised are the companies’ full funding rounds, rather than sums invested solely by Manchester Angels. The network’s individual contribution to each transaction was not disclosed.

Members committed capital after carrying out the network’s investor-led due diligence process. That draws on their experience of founding, operating and exiting technology businesses, rather than relying solely on an assessment by a central investment team.

The equity deals sit within a wider early-stage funding landscape that also includes debt finance: Start Up Loans lending exceeded £40m in a record summer.

The background

Manchester Angels has 45 active investors and reports an average total investment ticket of £220,000. Its stated remit combines investment with support and mentoring for technology businesses in the North, although the latest transactions also include a London-headquartered company.

The network’s cyber and intelligence focus reflects the backgrounds of its members. Fallon previously ran Manchester data intelligence business Naimuri, which he sold to QinetiQ in 2020.

Doris Labs was founded by Hayden Munt, previously at Vertice, and Frazer Kearl, previously at Patsnap. Munt is the company’s chief executive.

Its software combines material from sales calls, emails, documents and customer relationship management systems into a structured map of a business. The aim is to make knowledge gathered in one part of the sales operation available when teams are working on other opportunities.

The company reports that early deployments have reduced sales representatives’ administrative workload by six hours a week and increased deal velocity by 72%. Those figures describe results from its initial use, rather than a forecast for every customer.

One customer, AI patent platform Patently, recorded a 165% increase in deals closing within their forecast timetable after adopting Doris. Patently serves more than 1,000 teams across 40 countries.

Manchester’s wider founder support offer includes 25 funded places opened by ASCEND for Greater Manchester entrepreneurs, a separate programme from the angel network’s investment activity.

What people are saying

Munt said sales opportunities were too often handled in isolation from the rest of a company’s commercial activity. His argument is that businesses already hold information that could help them progress a deal, but staff cannot readily find or connect it.

David Levine, principal at Manchester Angels, said the investment case rested on Doris Labs’ distinctive approach and a credible plan for a large market. Members also recognised situations in their own businesses where the software could have been useful, giving them a practical basis for assessing its potential.

Ghost Shift co-founder and chief executive Tom Sefton-Collins said the company was established because organisations’ ability to operate in the information environment had not kept pace with its importance.

He said the funding would support two areas: building the team and operational capacity needed to expand capabilities already working, and research and development for future offerings. He also linked the choice to build the business in Manchester to the city’s computing and intelligence heritage.

What happens next

Doris Labs is launching Sidekicks, AI assistants designed to work continuously on individual sales opportunities. Each has its own memory and routines, using the company’s underlying information structure to support work on a deal.

Ghost Shift will use its funding to develop operational capacity alongside research and development. The UKRI contribution adds a separate matched-funding element to the private investment, giving the company £215,000 beyond its pre-seed equity round for its next stage.

Neither company set out a detailed recruitment target or spending timetable in the announcement. No date was given for a further funding round.

For Manchester startups looking beyond domestic backing, a separate Growth Company initiative has opened a Hong Kong route. No connection between that initiative and either of these investments was announced.