INSIGHTS / News

More than 20 of the UK’s most exciting technology start-ups bid for a collective £27m+ of investment in front of a live audience of over 200 investors in London last week (25 November).

Businesses providing technological solutions for everything from ethical alternatives for animal testing to a GPS-based anti-bike theft device pitched in front of an audience of some 200 investors, including those from MMC Ventures and Eden Ventures.

Every company also exhibited at the event and sought investment of between £250k-£6m each, with the founders available to meet investors throughout the day.

The event, Accelerating Growth, was organised by SETsquared, the world leading business incubation programme run by a partnership of the universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey. 2015 marked the 12th year of the showcase, which puts start-ups face-to-face with angel investors, venture capitalists, high net worth individuals and self-certified sophisticated investors.

Among the businesses who pitched for investment were:

• Sherlock – which has developed a GPS-based anti-theft device that allows cyclists to precisely locate their bicycle at any moment, as well as send a theft report to the police
• BioSystems Technology – which provides low cost, ethical solutions for researchers who require alternatives to animal testing
• EZ Education – which is the inventor of DoodleMaths, a learning system that adapts to children’s evolving strengths and weaknesses and is the top grossing primary maths app in the UK
• Pelipod – which has developed an intelligent parcel box that allows the use of unique codes for safe, audited and notified delivery of products and parts for field-based staff and home-based workers

Simon Bond, Innovation Director at SETsquared, said: “Once again at Accelerating Growth, we saw some fantastic, engaging pitches from the companies SETsquared supports. Gaining investment isn’t a short process but it was promising to see so many positive conversations taking place between the start-ups and investors at the event. We can’t wait to see these developing over the coming months and report on even more success stories.”

Also exhibiting at Accelerating Growth were five companies from ICURe, SETsquared’s scalable and structured programme for validating market opportunities stemming from university research labs, as well as three companies who have previously pitched at Accelerating Growth and have seen business success as a result.

Dr Mike Santer, who pitched on behalf of his business BluPoint, which was developed through the ICURe programme, added: “The opportunity to meet so many investors at once has been totally invaluable for the company. We’re incredibly grateful to SETsquared for the chance to come and pitch to such a big audience of investors, as well as the other ways it supports us.”

The investor showcase event culminated with the UBI Global awards for the world’s best university business incubators, where SETsquared was ranked number one globally.

Over the last 13 years SETsquared has helped more than 1,000 businesses raise over £1bn in investment, as well as contributing over £3.8bn in GVA (Gross Value Added) to the UK economy with £15bn GVA estimated over the next 10 years.