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NPIF II and Praetura Ventures lead £2m investment into SaaS business transforming global enterprise contact centres

Press release 20 January 2025

A growing SaaS business using AI to analyse customer service conversations, train call handling staff and enhance the user experience for millions of consumers has raised £2.25m of investment in a round led by NPIF II – Praetura Equity Finance  which is managed by Praetura as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II.

Portrait of the team from Mojo-CX

Manchester-based Mojo-CX has developed a suite of tools, including an AI team leader called MO and an agent assistant called JO, to help businesses analyse digital and voice conversations, with the aim of providing useful insights for call handlers and businesses to improve their customer service.

A third tool, CECE, uses AI to provide analysis into customer conversations, which Mojo claims can help teams reduce the time from an insight question being asked to the analysis being available by up to 99%. The AI insight can then be used by advisors to understand best practice for handling enquiries and finding a resolution for customers as efficiently as possible, helping boost loyalty and revenue over time.

Mojo, which also has an office in Birmingham, was founded by CEO Jimmy Hosang in 2018, will use the investment to develop its technology by introducing new features, such as voice AI and automated quality assurance to benefit agents in real-time. The business also plans to double the size of its sales and engineering teams to grow its strong customer base, which includes Concentrix, AA and Fiserv.

The £2.25m investment included £1m from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II, and investment from River Capital’s fund:AI and Mojo’s existing investors the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), and Foresight – from the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF). 

Jimmy Hosang, CEO of Mojo-CX, said: 

We’re absolutely thrilled to receive this investment from NPIF II - Praetura, as well as River Capital, Foresight, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and MEIF, which will be instrumental in driving the next stage of growth for Mojo-CX. With this new injection of capital and ideas, MOJO-CX will accelerate our vision of redefining customer contact, for customers, for brands and for employees through the use of AI. As a proud northerner, this funding also allows us to deepen our commitment to the region by creating high-quality jobs and fostering a thriving tech community here in the North West. This is a pivotal moment for MOJO as a business and for the contact centre market, and I can’t wait to see what we can achieve in this space.

Michael Rees, investment manager at Praetura Ventures, said: 

Businesses are looking for ways to stand-out against their competitors, and improving the experience for customers is a key way of doing this. Mojo’s tools are already having a significant impact by providing businesses with tangible data and insights to improve the quality of their customer service functions.

We’re proud to be backing another proudly northern company, which has identified a clear gap in the market for a suite of analytics, monitoring and training tools for contact centres, which are essential to every business’s consumer reputation and bottom line. We look forward to supporting Jimmy and the team with more than money as they explore new ways to grow and meet demand.

Sue Barnard, senior manager at British Business Bank, said: 

The rollout of AI will transform the processes that businesses adopt and use as they grow, and it is brilliant to see companies like Mojo - delivering this technology transformation in the North West. Innovative companies are a key part of economic growth and we are looking forward to seeing more of these types of businesses emerge in the future.

The £660m Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIFII) covers the entire North of England and provides loans from £25k to £2m and equity investment up to £5m to help a range of small and medium sized businesses to start up, scale up or stay ahead.

The purpose of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II is to drive sustainable economic growth by supporting innovation and creating local opportunity for new and growing businesses across the North of England. The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II will increase the supply and diversity of early-stage finance for the North’s smaller businesses, providing funds to firms that might otherwise not receive investment and help to break down barriers in access to finance.

Further Information

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Notes to editors

About the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II

  • Operated by the British Business Bank, the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II) provides a mix of debt and equity funding.  NPIF II will offer a range of commercial finance options with smaller loans from £25k to £100k, debt finance from £100k to £2m and equity investment up to £5 million. It works alongside the Combined Authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), and Growth Hubs, as well as local intermediaries such as accountants, fund managers and banks, to support the South West’s smaller businesses at all stages of their development. 
  • The funds in which the NPIF II invests are open to businesses with material operations, or planning to open material operations, in: Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, City of Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, Hartlepool and Stockton-on-Tees, South Teesside, Darlington, Durham, Northumberland, Tyneside, Sunderland.     
  • Supported by Nations and Regions Investments Limited, a subsidiary of British Business Bank plc, the Bank is a development bank wholly owned by HM Government. Neither Nations and Regions Investments Limited nor British Business Bank plc are authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

For investment by NRIL at the sub-fund level

  • The investment from the Nations and Regions Investments Limited into [.] does not amount to any endorsement or warranty from Nations and Regions Investments Limited, the British Business Bank plc or the government of the United Kingdom.

For investment by NPIF II sub-fund at the investee company level

  • The investment from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II into [.] does not amount to any endorsement or warranty from Nations and Regions Investments Limited, the British Business Bank plc or the government of the United Kingdom.

About Praetura Ventures

Praetura Ventures is a Manchester-based venture capital firm which invests in early-stage, high-growth businesses across the UK, with a particular focus on supporting entrepreneurs across the North of England.          

Praetura Ventures is committed to adding value post-investment and providing the ‘more than money’ support that businesses need to grow, including additional expertise, resources, networks and guidance, to its investee companies.        

Since 2019, Praetura Ventures has backed over 45 companies, including North West headquartered businesses Culture Shift, AccessPay and Peak. The business has now grown to over £260m AUM and recently won the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II mandate for the £100m fund dedicated to equity in the North West of England.   
     
Learn more at praeturaventures.com.

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