BidScript, an AI-native tender management startup, has raised £600,000 in a pre-seed round from PXN Ventures and SFC Capital, bringing its total pre-seed funding to over £750,000. Managed by PXN Ventures as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II, NPIF II – PXN Equity Finance's investment is a follow-on, while SFC Capital is a new investor in the business. The Manchester-headquartered platform helps businesses find, qualify, manage, write and submit bids for public and private sector contracts, and the new funding will be used to build out the team, develop the product suite further, and expand into new markets domestically and internationally.
Hundreds of billions of pounds of public and private contracts are awarded each year, yet most businesses still complete tenders manually, using time-consuming spreadsheets and shared drives. Addressing this, BidScript automates workflows and improves efficiencies using AI-based technology, with a particular focus on the construction and engineering, IT and education sectors. Early customers across the UK, US and the Middle East have seen win rates improve by up to 50% by using the platform.
Childhood friends Henry Brogan and Tyler McCarthy founded BidScript while both were still at university. Their fundraising journey began in November 2024, when the business was one of 12 selected for PXN's inaugural PraeSeed cohort, a six-week investor readiness programme, now in its third year, aimed at providing funding access and mentoring for pre-seed businesses in the North of England and run by PXN with funding from the British Business Bank's Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II. Following the programme, BidScript was one of seven businesses to receive an investment of £200,000.
We are delighted to have secured the continued backing from PXN and welcome new investment from SFC Capital. General-purpose AI does not meet the standards required for high-stakes public and private sector tendering — it's a niche that demands deep expertise. BidScript embodies that exact principle and this latest funding round will allow us to take the next step on our journey as we expand into new markets and geographies.
Our investment into BidScript was one of the first cheques written following our inaugural PraeSeed programme, and watching the business grow in size and stature since then has been inspiring. We're excited to see where this next round of NPIF II funding takes the business, given our belief in both Henry and his co-founder Tyler and the issue they are solving for businesses, who too often get swamped by resource-heavy bidding processes.
Henry and Tyler are tackling a problem most people overlook; the antiquated system of managing public and private contracts. They've built real traction early, and their sector focus and commercial discipline are exactly what we look for at pre-seed.
It's great to see the Northern Powerhouse Investment II supporting ambitious technology businesses like BidScript as it continues to develop innovative AI-powered solutions and pursue its growth plans. As AI and digital technologies have an increasingly important role in driving productivity and innovation across the UK economy, businesses like BidScript reflect the ambitions set out in the UK's Modern Industrial Strategy to support high growth companies and strengthen the digital economy.
