Former Kiddicare Executives Create Digital Start-Up Investment Vehicle

Former Kiddicare executives Scott and Elaine Weavers-Wright have set up a digital start-up investment fund.

Haatch has been set up by the husband and wife team to provide funding and assistance to technology-driven firms in the early stages of development.

Scott Weaver-Wright was chief executive at Kiddicare, the online children's retailer which was acquired by Morrisons in February 2011. Elaine was head of buying and merchandising at Kiddicare.

Fred Soneya, an e-commerce troubleshooter at Morrisons who also previously worked at Kiddicare, is also joining the investment team.

In June it was revealed that Scott Weavers-Wright - described as the architect of online at Morrisons - had decided to leave the supermarket following the completion of the landmark deal with Ocado. Soneya left the same month.

Haatch said in a statement: 'With an investment focus on graduates and start-ups in the digital realm, Haatch will provide much more than a desk space and a lump sum. We will work alongside start-ups in their early stages, wrapping the services and support you need to grow your seed into a flourishing new business.'

To create an environment for the firms to develop, Haatch says it is building a £1.5 million 'state of the art business incubation centre' planned to open in Stamford, Lincolnshire in summer 2014. Stamford was earlier this year named the best place to live in Britain by the Sunday Times.

The Stamford centre, also known as The Hub, will house over 100 people in an open-plan, 5 storey building, complete with a roof terrace and 'super fast internet'. It will be an 'inspiring and collaborative atmosphere,' according to the company.

The Kiddicare business was founded by Neville and Marilyn Wright. Scott and Elaine Weavers-Wright are their son-in-law and daughter. The acquisition was billed as a way for Morrisons to gain knowledge of the online world as well as a successful children's products business.