Ferryx, a biotech company tackling gastrointestinal inflammation, pitched alongside ten other startups from Bristol’s world-leading tech scene to win ‘Best Elevator Pitch’ at Tech-Xpo on Wednesday 30 June.

Tech-Xpo is our flagship pitch, demo, connect showcase, providing a platform for startups to showcase their innovative technologies and raise investment.

Founded in 2019 as a spin-out from the University of Bristol, Ferryx are tackling the problem that there is no effective treatment for gastrointestinal inflammation during active disease which does not present negative side effects.

Their lead product (FX856) is being developed as a prescription therapeutic to target inflammatory bowel disease, which affects 6.8 million people worldwide. Ferryx hope to announce their first UK license deal soon and are looking for first investment to accelerate their growth into the pharmaceutical market.

Jenny Bailey, CEO of Ferryx says: “We’re absolutely thrilled to win Tech-Xpo’s Best Elevator Pitch. We pitched to make connections and investments and we are already seeing interest on both accounts.”

The annual showcase was hosted as a hybrid event for the first time in its 17-year history, blending the best of both worlds with live pitches from Bristol enterprise hub, Engine Shed, along with a wider national audience of influential investors and business movers and shakers.

Previous Tech-Xpo pitchers have gone on to achieve notable success. 2020 winners, KETS Quantum Security, have since raised £3.1 million to bring to market hardware to protect data from a new generation of cyberattacks that will use quantum computers.

LettUs Grow, the 2018 winners, raised £2.35 million in 2020 to scale-up delivery of their vertical farming software, as well as partnering with specialist agri-food university, Harper Adams, to trial new technologies.

Monika Radclyffe, Centre Director at SETsquared Bristol, said: “We were proud to showcase an incredible diversity of tech at this year’s event, featuring startup founders who have the potential to make global impact and deliver innovative new products to market.”

Catherine Fletcher, Associate at Science Creates Ventures says: “SETsquared’s Tech-Xpo delivered some great pitches from early-stage companies. As a new national investor based in the South West, we were excited to experience first-hand some of the talent from the growing Bristol and South West tech ecosystem.”

Tech-Xpo 2021 was kindly sponsored by VWV, Corrigan Accountants and QTEC. VWV and Corrigan Accountants are dedicated supporters of local tech innovation, each offering their pro-bono services to support SETsquared members. QTEC is the University of Bristol’s pre-incubator for innovators of quantum inspired technologies.

Nathan Guest, Corporate Partner and Head of VWV’s Technology sector, said: “We are delighted to sponsor Tech-Xpo for the 11th consecutive year.  Our role as Lawyer –in Residence to SETsquared Bristol remains a foundation of our support to tech and life science startups and scaleups in the city region. Whilst it has been a very difficult year for many, we have been delighted to support several SETsquared companies on significant fundraising deals, and many others on other significant projects”.

If you’re an investor that would like more information on SETsquared Bristol members, or have ideas for how we can accelerate the growth of our companies, please get in touch.

Watch the event recording and access the Tech-Xpo 2021 brochure.

Information about exhibiting companies

AI Labs simplify and democratise the use of AI across your organization, enabling you to start monetizing your data assets and gain competitive advantage.

Airway Medical are developing novel, portable airway management suction units.

Brijj is a project management tool for a data driven world.

Cotham Technologies is a no-code mobile app development platform that builds native app solutions with superior mobile experiences at a lower cost.

Data³ is an award-winning UK data agency and the creator of myDATA³ – the all-in-one place business dashboard.

Ferryx are developing safe and effective bacterial products for the treatment and prevention of gut inflammation.

Groundwaves captures the power of sound, enabling you to feel the live music experience.

Kaedim are making 3D creativity frictionless.

Radii Devices are changing how external medical devices are designed for perfect fit, faster.

Stratiphy create personalised investment strategies, that make it easy to track your sustainability and make an impact.

Yello Butterfly Communications are working towards bridging the gap between the literate and pre-literate worlds.

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