Tech Nation, the government-backed national network for technology entrepreneurs, has made reassurances that funding for work in the North will continue until 2022.
The merging of Tech City UK and Tech North was announced late last year and the two organisations officially joined forces in April.
The government agreed to commit approximately £25m of funding over four years, to support 10 new city hubs.
The decision to consolidate the two organisations under the Tech Nation banner received widespread praise but also raised concerns about whether the North of England would continue to get the same level of attention.
One entrepreneur, Elizabeth Clark, recently raised concerns that the move could be a “potentially backward step” for the region.
The CEO of Dream Agility said her worry is that the North will now become “the poor relation to the South”.
However, Tech Nation told BusinessCloud that “the brilliant work of Tech North is not only continuing, it will be expanding under the new Tech Nation banner”.
A spokesperson said: “In effect, Tech Nation will give the strong and proactive team even more support from their colleagues around the country, while confirming that funding for work in the North will continue until 2022 (prior to the launch of Tech Nation, funding was due to cease in April 2018).”
The organisation currently has team members based in four cities in the North of England and London.
“We want to have a flexible team who know the communities in which they work well and are capable of working proactively to connect with entrepreneurs across the country,” the spokesperson added.
“Tech Nation’s expanded mission is to connect ambitious digital tech entrepreneurs right across the UK and we look forward to building on the amazing work of our Tech North team, all of whom are staying with us on the new Tech Nation journey.”