Watch: Insider's Business Briefing - 16th September
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.
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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.