Safetytech startup spacebands overfunded at £1m investment

spacebands founders smiling sitting on sofa in living room

spacebands, a startup that creates software and wearable technology to make workplaces safer, has overfunded its initial seed investment target of £600,000 to hit a total of £1m investment. It has also been approved for Innovate UK’s Future Economy Fund grant of £250,000.  The startup was founded by award-winning entrepreneurs Harry Kimberley-Bowen and Ronan Finnegan…

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Introducing Kimberley Brook, Interim Director at SETsquared Bristol

Kimberley Brook, Interim Director at SETsquared Bristol

We’re delighted to welcome Kimberley Brook as our new interim Director at SETsquared Bristol. As Director, Kim will focus on the strategic growth of our incubation and pre-incubation programmes, alongside the development of corporate partnerships and investor relations.  Kim takes the helm from Marty Reid who has taken up the role of Interim Executive Director…

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Anna-Lisa Wesley: Down with the elevator pitch, up with good chat

Anna-Lisa Wesley at SETsquared Bristol

Anna-Lisa Wesley, Entrepreneur in Residence at SETsquared Bristol, shares her six-step guide to get through informal pitch situations with your reputation intact and maybe even a few hot leads. For as long as I’ve been in business we‘ve been talking about refining the elevator pitch. That idea that an entrepreneur might serendipitously find themselves in…

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Emm develops world’s first biowearable for female health

Emm team - three people outside smiling

Emm, a Bristol-based biotech startup, has developed a first-of-its-kind biowearable with the potential to revolutionise female health. Having closed its pre-seed funding of over $1million, it is now in Beta testing, readying for full production and launch in 2023. Founded in 2020, the company joined SETsquared Bristol in May 2021 and is working in partnership…

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SETsquared Bristol companies pitch at Silicon Gorge final 

Tom Riglar pitching at Silicon Gorge 2022

Twelve innovative tech and digital startups from the South West and Wales pitched to investors at the Silicon Gorge final this month, including three SETsquared Bristol companies.  Silicon Gorge is a major investment event in the South West, with startups selected through a three-stage selection process by experienced network and investor judges, as part of…

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Electric vehicle startup Voltric launches next seed raise

Voltric founders with electric vehicles

Electric vehicle subscription business Voltric has announced its next seed fundraiser following an initial investment round this year. The fast-growth startup which is seeking to increase electric vehicle driving through hassle-free, cost-effective tech-enabled solutions, has also opened offices in Newport. Chief Executive Julian Mensah and COO Brent Oldfield founded Voltric in Bristol in 2019, and…

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Diverse founders are worth investing in – Paul Forster

Paul, Anna-Lisa and Lara Lalemi at Enterprising Women 2.0 Showcase

It’s a fitting time for an update on SETsquared Bristol’s equality, diversity and inclusion work as October is Black History Month, plus Ada Lovelace Day, Dyslexia Awareness Week and Diwali all fall within this month. Yet it’s been only a year since my last update, and year can be a short time in the world…

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Biotech spin-out Ferryx secures seed funding

Bristol-based biotech startup, Ferryx, has raised £300k seed capital from Deepbridge Capital for further development of its innovative solution to common gut problems. Ferryx is a University of Bristol spin-out company that joined SETsquared Bristol in 2020 and has since won ‘Best Elevator Pitch’ at our Tech-Xpo 2021 Showcase. The company aims to tackle the…

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