How to unlock explosive growth and secure investment with Manjit Sareen, Natterhub

Manjit Sareen is CEO and co-founder of Natterhub and a serial entrepreneur. Since her co-founder Caroline Allams was on the show earlier this year the business, which teaches children to be safe and savvy online, has announced a high-impact collaboration with Microsoft.

Manjit explains how Natterhub offers an innovative, immersive and safe environment for children and how it has developed since launching last year.  Although Manjit and Caroline had been working on the product for several years the onset of the pandemic pushed them to launch earlier than originally planned in 2020 – she tells me why.

Natterhub was the first start-up company to join TwinklHive, which invested into the business too. It has won customers in more than 60 schools and is poised for explosive global growth thanks to a new integration with Microsoft means for Natterhub. Manjit describes how this came about.

For serial entrepreneur Manjit, developing, launching and growing Natterhub is an exciting and new chapter in an extraordinary business career. But the idea behind Natterhub had nearly been shelved just before she and co-founder Caroline became business partners. A serendipitously-overheard conversation led to their partnership and a world-leading business.

This week Natterhub scooped the Gold award in the Digital Education Awards, yet another accolade for the 9-person, lean firm named one of the top SaaS (software as a service) companies in the UK by TechRound earlier this year.

We also explore some of Manjit's earlier entrepreneurial experiences and she has advice for entrepreneurs on how to secure investment and the value of an experienced CFO to your team. And Manjit is running a new fundraise for the firm and always open to new partnerships; she tells folk what she's looking for and how to reach her.

Finally we return to some of Natterhub's functionality and recent initiatives such as a youth board and  its Rate My YouTuber web page, which reviews the content of popular YouTubers, to help parents make informed decisions about the content their children are viewing online.

Timings:

• 0 - 38:27 Introduction then interview with Manjit Sareen, Natterhub.
• 38:27 Funding updates: the overseas trade show fund from the UK Tradeshow Programme (UKTP) – uo to 40% / £4000 grants to exhibit at approved events; the British Design Fund – £100,000 to £200,000 investments into eligible businesses.
• 40:30 Upcoming online events from Sheffield Adventure Film Festival ShAff Online and wrapping up.

This is episode 355 of Business Live. Love the show? Please leave a rating or review on your podcast platform of choice – thank-you!