Anna-Lisa Wesley: Founder folklore and fairytales – tech desperately needs new material

Anna-Lisa Wesley wearing blue top in front of grey background

Anna-Lisa Wesley, Entrepreneur in Residence at SETsquared Bristol, reflects on the power of storytelling and needing new founder stories for our time. “Working in tech right now, we need some new heroes, heroines, new plots, new tools, new lessons. We desperately need new material.” Microsoft, Google, LinkedIn… these business stories, the founders that sit behind them and…

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The least answered question when preparing for investment

Kevin Simmons, Entrepreneur in Residence at SETsquared Bristol

Kevin Simmons, Entrepreneur in Residence at SETsquared Bristol, reflects on the best way to improve the odds of getting investment for your tech business. “No matter how ‘investor ready’ you may be, if the investor is not ‘ready’ for you, then your business will not secure the investment it desires.” “How do I make my business…

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Cell technology spinout Impulsonics closes £450k funding

Impulsonics founders at NEC competition

Impulsonics has closed its first funding round to advance the development of its unique biotech automation platform and begin customer trials. Impulsonics is an award-winning cell technology spinout from the University of Bristol’s Ultrasonics and Non-Destructive Testing Research Group, building on over a decade of deep research and leveraging world-leading expertise in acoustics. The company…

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Battery development startup Celltris receives £0.8 million investment

Celltris team - six people in manufacturing space smiling wearing black Celltris jumpers

Bristol-based battery startup, Celltris has received a substantial boost in investment towards its mission to eliminate wasted internal space in lithium-ion cells, the rechargeable batteries used in electric vehicles. The company has announced the closure of a £0.8m combined equity and grant investment round which was led by QantX and supported in partnership with UKRI’s…

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Medtech startup Neuronostics raises over £2 million

Neuronostics team - nine men and women smiling, wearing business casual

Multi-award-winning medtech startup, Neuronostics, has raised more than £2m in funding to develop its pioneering epilepsy diagnosis technology. The company received £2.1m in an oversubscribed seed funding round led by the Ascension Life Fund. Chris Wheatcroft, Investment Director at the Ascension Life Fund said: “We are delighted to have invested in Neuronostics, whose software as…

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Is your tech business ready for an incubator?

Kimberley Brook, Interim Director at SETsquared Bristol

Kimberley Brook, Director of SETsquared Bristol, reflects on what we look for when selecting new technology startups, and the questions to ask yourself before you apply to the incubator.  SETsquared Bristol has two incubation programmes, Quest and Propel, designed to support founders at every stage of their business development. Across our programmes we are currently incubating over 90 technology…

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Startup advice from Kevin Simmons, Entrepreneur in Residence

Kevin Simmons, Entrepreneur in Residence at SETsquared Bristol

As part of our startup advice series with our Entrepreneurs in Residence (EiRs), we had a chat with the newest member of the team, Kevin Simmons, to hear his top tips for founders and startups. Tell us a bit about yourself including any hidden talents? My strongest dislike in life is ‘tell me about yourself’ questions.…

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SETsquared Bristol’s guide to regional business support resources

Hot air balloon over Clifton Suspension Bridge

We understand that it’s tough starting out with a new startup, so we’ve put together this guide to the business support services we offer, as well as other options available regionally.  General business support Incubation   SETsquared Bristol’s incubation programmes are for high-growth potential technology startups with a UK-registered business. Membership includes tailored business support, coaching,…

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Biotech startup Impulsonics awarded £300,000 Innovate UK grant

Impulsonics founders at NEC competition

Bristol-based startup, Impulsonics has been awarded the prestigious ICURe spinout support grant of £300,000 to enable the development of its unique technology platform for biotech automation. The grant will enable the company to develop its flexible acoustic platform for key applications in the process of growing cells in order to streamline cell culture automation. This…

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