Funding from the Finnish institutional investor Veraventure and the two separate funds, North West Venture Capital and North West Digital & Creative, should see Hammerkit opening new offices and taking on dozens of new employees.
The company, which focuses primarily on providing cloud-based data solutions to the PR and marketing industry, already has offices in Liverpool and has made clear its view of the North West as an important centre of digital innovation.
“We’re excited to launch the next phase of Hammerkit and the creation of a new digital industry hub in Liverpool, given its abundance of digital talent and proximity to MediaCityUK,” said Mark Sorsa-Leslie, Hammerkit’s chief executive. “There is real passion here to succeed,” he added.
A total of £1.05 million has been invested into the business to boost its progress over the next three to four years and promote Hammerkit’s Cloudstore operation across the region.
AXM, which manages the North West Digital & Creative investment fund, plans to use its experience in the regional economy to help the Helsinki-based business achieve its goals in the UK.
“We hope that AXM’s knowledge and sector contacts will prove invaluable as it expands its business model here in the North West of England,” said David Smith from AXM.
Steve Smith from the development agency Liverpool Vision welcomed Hammerkit’s investment and progress in the city. He suggested that the company’s bosses were attracted to Liverpool partly because of the reasonable price of office space and proximity to a high-quality workforce.
Editor’s notes: Research in June 2024 found that Hammerkit, which had created a community-based platform-as-a-service (PaaS) to promote the creation and sharing of repeatable digital solutions, dissolved in 2015.