About Northcoders

Headquartered in Manchester, the firm is an independent provider of training programmes for software coding. It offers a range of training and development solutions to individual and corporate customers, including ‘bootcamp’ training courses, bespoke training courses and consultancy solutions. Northcoders was set up in 2015, and launched on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) stock exchange with an IPO in 2021, valuing the company at £12.5m at that time.

The Challenge

Northcoders was looking to refinance an existing loan from Creative England, and raise extra funds to launch new courses covering AI and AI language models, Data Engineering, Machine Learning, and Cloud Technologies.

The Solution

Northcoders was looking to value a range of intangible assets, including its ‘Learn to Code’ web platform, its ‘Passport’ account management database, its public user interfaces, and its ‘NCore’ learner management system; additionally, it has a library of course materials covering its curriculum. It used Inngot’s online platform to identify key value-driving assets, as well as getting an indication of how much these intangibles were worth.

Charlotte Prior, Northcoder’s Chief Financial Officer, was first introduced to the NatWest IP-backed loan proposition by NatWest’s Neil Brophy, a Senior Relationship Manager specialising in Tech, Media and Telecoms for firms in the North West of England, in April 2024.

Charlotte says: “When Neil first told me about this IP loan, I thought it sounded amazing – but we weren’t looking to get a loan at that point. We were working through our growth model.”

Six months later, with growth plans fully developed, Charlotte reconnected with Neil Brophy. “In November 2024, with the plans for the new course in progress, it made sense to contact Neil again and explore the IP loan.” Charlotte registered on the Inngot site in early January 2025, and the loan documents were signed in early March, so the whole process took three months.

She adds: “Identifying revenue purely from the IP we wanted to borrow against was a new concept for us, but once we had done it, it actually made us really proud when we saw how much that IP was worth.”

She found the Inngot tools “quite self-explanatory. There were some bits where we needed a little bit of extra help and we were introduced to a contact at Inngot early in the process. As an AIM-listed company we had all the financials and forecasts the Inngot system asked for, and there was excellent support from Inngot’s team when we did have any queries.”

The whole process “definitely got us thinking about the importance of the IP and it made us feel proud of what we've put together completely internally over the last few years and what value that now has going forwards.”

Since successfully applying for the NatWest High Growth IP-backed loan, Charlotte says, “people have asked me about the process, people that I work with externally to our business who are aware of the loan with NatWest. They’ve asked how it went, and whether I think that all the companies that they work with could potentially get themselves through it, and I've highly recommended it.”

Neil Brophy says: “Northcoders is a leading tech business in Manchester – it has good revenue based on its internally-generated IP, including its core learning platform and its course curriculum. It has demonstrated that its business model is well positioned to make the most of the increasing demand for technology training in the UK.”

[I found the Inngot tools] quite self-explanatory. There were some bits where we needed a little bit of extra help and we were introduced to a contact at Inngot early in the process. As an AIM-listed company we had all the financials and forecasts the Inngot system asked for, and there was excellent support from Inngot’s team when we did have any queries.

Charlotte Prior - CFO

The Result

£1.5 million finance package approved by NatWest

Northcoders used its internally generated IP to negotiate a total £1.5m finance package on significantly improved terms, with £1m of lending secured against its IP value.

Northcoders is a leading tech business in Manchester – it has good revenue based on its internally-generated IP, including its core learning platform and its course curriculum. It has demonstrated that its business model is well positioned to make the most of the increasing demand for technology training in the UK.

Neil Brophy - NatWest Senior Relationship Manager, Tech, Media and Telecoms