Breakthrough Bursary - supporting diverse businesses

What is the Breakthrough Bursary?

SETsquared Bristol's Breakthrough Bursary supports Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic entrepreneurs to grow their tech business with our bespoke business incubation programme.  

Our programme can help you get your product ready for market or grow your existing business, whilst retaining your existing company culture. 

The Bursary covers 75% of Startup Membership costs for up to 12 months. This equates to a cost of £37.50 + VAT per month for awardees to become members of SETsquared Bristol. The Bursary is kindly funded by our SETsquared alumni members. 

Applications for the Breakthrough Bursary 2021-2022 have now closed. Please check this page for future opportunities or subscribe to our newsletter.

What you get:

Bespoke business support

Business advice and coaching from our Entrepreneurs in Residence

Mentoring from experienced business leaders, SETsquared alumni and Advisor in Residence clinics

Support with raising investment and finance

Skills and training

A full programme of skills and training workshops, forums and peer-led focus groups

Support in the entrepreneurial community

A supportive community of tech entrepreneurs and network of potential partners and investors

Access to SETsquared events including networking and investment showcases

PR including representation on our website, newsletters and social media

Discounted rates on a range of useful business software

Who is it for?

Founders or businesses must meet a few simple criteria: 

You are an entrepreneur from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background with a UK-registered business

You have an ambition for business growth and financial success

You can commit a minimum of 2 days per week to developing the business

You are open and receptive to support and advice

We welcome applications from anywhere in the UK

Chen Mao Davies,  Founder and CEO of LatchAid

"The Breakthrough Bursary has made it more accessible for me to join SETsquared Bristol. The membership has given me a huge amount of exposure as well as the support and network to grow very fast this year. It's been a real boost of confidence for me."

Neciah Dorh, Co-founder and CEO of FluoretiQ

"The Breakthrough Bursary enabled us to join a community of amazing founders to learn from. I'm especially grateful for access to the Entrepreneurs in Residence and the Business Review Panels, both of which have really helped us refine our business strategy."

Silas Adekunle, CEO of Reach Robotics

"SETsquared were integral to the start of Reach Robotics. Startups aren't born in isolation - incubators provide the support, connections and guidance that are absolutely invaluable to getting a tech business off the ground. SETsquared also opened the door to a fantastic community of businesses that we are proud to be part of."

Why the Breakthrough Bursary?

SETsquared Bristol is proud be part of Bristol's diverse communities, but there remains a lack of diverse ethnic representation in the UK tech ecosystem as a whole. We are committed to working towards fairer representation of underrepresented groups and are particularly encouraging women of colour to apply. 

Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic founders currently make up 24% of our members. The nine companies who have been awardees of the Bursary to date, have raised a combined £1.4 million in investment.

For more information about our work with diversity and inclusion, view our research into increasing gender and Black Asian and Minority Ethnic representation in the incubator.

Breakthrough Bursary awardees:

Gritty Talent connects the best under represented talent with decision-makers in the TV industry. There is huge untapped potential in the UK’s diverse communities, whose talents and contributions can enrich the media industry and its cultural evolution.

 

Inclued AI offers an inclusive aproach to marketing using AI, helping marketers to identify various types of bias - from gender, race and ableism in digital content.

 

MeiXter is a peer-to-peer live tutoring app and web platform for all types of skills at all levels.

 

Milbotix is developing wearable technologies for use in the care of older adults and people with dementia. Their wearable technologies are backed by several years of research undertaken at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory.

 

Voltric are integrating all forms of mobility into one solution, creating a true mobility as a service provider (MaaS). This will allow users to have a range of travel options from electric cars, bikes, scooters and public transport all in one place.

E2E is a platform which aims to build an active and co-operative learning environment for engineers. It will also be a bridge between students and academics.

 

Ethical Equity are an investment platform dedicated to high-growth startups and scaleups delivering social, environmental and cultural impact.

FluoretiQ have developed NANOPLEX™- a rapid diagnostic platform that identifies bacterial pathogens in 15 minutes. This ground breaking technology enables clinicians to confidently use antibiotics at the very start of patient treatment.

 

LatchAid is an easy-to-use breastfeeding support app which utilises cutting-edge 3D interactive and AI to help mothers and mothers-to-be learn vital breastfeeding skills.

 

Lurnable is a strategy consultancy that helps educational institutions maximise their potential in international markets to develop new growth avenues and establish global presence.

Yello Butterfly aims to create a new approach to the way in which we communicate with those who cannot or can no longer use the pen and paper method of communication and for those who have barriers.

 

Chisel Robotics have created a digital technology infrastructure for clinicians to diagnose the mobility journey of lower limb amputees in real-time. This will allow clinicians to provide targeted care to amputees by using quantitative actionable insights.

Cyber Scholars, now Better Together, offer online safety for kids workshops that are designed for parents, guardians, care-givers, teachers and non-teaching professionals who work with children and young people.

 

Access NorthStar is a powerful cloud-based business improvement and productivity tool that integrates with your CRM, enabling recruitment agencies to turn information into intelligence and data into decisions.

See also