At the end of 2024, everyone at Harker was incredibly proud and excited when we heard the news that we’d been selected as one of the few companies to take part in Baltic Ventures’ 2025 Launchpad programme. Baltic Ventures sum up the programme as the pre-accelerator for start-ups who are told that they are too early by investors, and is designed to support founders in demonstrating commercial traction.

Beginnings

At the start of 2025, Zack and I went along to Yonder for the cohort welcome drinks, and met all of those (who we didn’t already know) who would make up the cohort alongside us. We had fascinating conversations with founders running start-ups at all different stages, all different sectors, but all brought together by a common desire to solve problems with technology.

Masterclasses

The core of the programme is delivered through a series of six masterclasses, focussing on a huge variety of topics ranging from blue ocean strategy to vocal coaching to market segmentation. Delivered by Rebecca Robinson, these masterclasses were very powerful in providing us a space to work through important parts of our business, including finalising and writing up our: value proposition, go-to-market strategy and customer personas. These key pieces of work often fall to the wayside when we are frantically dealing with the day-to-day challenges of running a start-up, whilst also building our product.

Alongside the masterclasses, the programme also provided coaching: both in a structured form, through regular sessions delivered by Rebecca, and ad-hoc advice calls with Carl and David, two exited founders who make up part of the Baltic Ventures board. These sessions were very helpful in working through some challenges the business was facing, also setting more ambitious targets and talking through the narrative for demonstrating Harker’s commercial traction.

Prize

At the end of all Launchpad programmes, the companies on the cohort all have the opportunity to pitch for a share of an equity-free cash prize pot. Following a good pitch, and some excellent questions from the panel, we are delighted to announce that we were awarded a share of the prize pot, alongside two other brilliant businesses: ValArt and ClassHoppa.

We plan to use the money to secure our first eighteen clients in the Liverpool City Region over the next six months, and are incredibly grateful to Baltic Ventures for the award, and to the angel investor who funds it.

What’s next

Now that Launchpad’s done and dusted, it’s time for us to get busy making our next moves, and implementing everything we learnt from the programme. First and foremost, we’re laser focussed on finishing the last parts of Harker, and onboarding our launch partner, before selling Harker to other charities in the local area.

Alongside this, we are looking to raise our seed round in the next 6 months, to propel Harker to full commercialisation. To help this happen, we’re keen to speak to investors, particularly those with a focus on tech for good, and profit for purpose. If you’re interested, or know someone who might be, drop us a message - we’d love to chat.