A growth programme in Wales has been transformed into a full-scale accelerator backing the country鈥檚 most聽ambitious聽tech firms.
The Digital Dozen Accelerator, powered by Innovation Point, offers tech聽start-ups and聽scale-ups the chance to take their business to the next level through an intensive聽six-month聽journey聽aimed at helping them secure investment.
The programme聽includes聽high-profile and experienced mentors, specialist training,聽pitch and demo days聽and聽investor introductions. One of the highlights of being part of the Digital Dozen聽Accelerator聽is the opportunity to pitch to a panel聽of high-profile investors at the Digital 2017 event held in聽Tramshed聽Tech in September聽and at a prestigious聽event held at the聽London Stock Exchange in November.
鈥淭his year, building on the successful 2016 Digital Dozen campaign, we are seeking a cohort of dragons that we can turn into unicorns,鈥� said David聽Warrender, CEO of Innovation Point.
鈥淲e鈥檙e offering a new, bigger and better package of support for start-ups and scale-ups looking for their next investment round 鈥� or perhaps a Stock Exchange listing 鈥� and whose ambitions match ours.
鈥淲ales has the raw talent and ambition to become the leading force in the UK digital economy outside the capital.? This package of support will enhance our reputation as the UK destination of choice for capable tech businesses.?
鈥淭his聽programme聽will offer bespoke training, an unrivalled聽mentoring聽programme聽and links to only the smartest of聽investors.? This package is designed to stack the odds of successful, rapid growth firmly in聽favour聽of those ambitious businesses who participate.
鈥淲e are seeking Wales-based tech disruptors who are ready to accept the challenge and work with us to turn their dragon into a unicorn.鈥�
There is no charge to be part of the accelerator and Innovation Point does not take an equity stake in return for participation.
Potential applicants have only until the 28th聽June to apply.
For the first time,聽those who have聽previously been part of the Digital Dozen campaign聽are聽invited to reapply to benefit from the increased level of support on offer.
Head聽of partnerships at Innovation Point聽and accelerator manager Colin Batten said:聽鈥淭his is a real step change from previous years. We鈥檝e worked hard to build an accelerator that meets the ambitious needs of the exploding tech scene here in Wales.
鈥淭he huge package of support includes everything from聽investment readiness聽and pitching training to securing聽intellectual property and international expansion.
鈥淧erhaps most important of all, we鈥檝e brought some incredibly experienced聽mentors from the world聽of tech and investment onboard. The guidance and experience these mentors can offer is paramount for any start-up or聽scale-up seeking to achieve their potential.鈥�
Past participants聽of the Digital Dozen聽campaign have represented聽a range of sectors聽and聽are already making their mark聽on the UK鈥檚 economy through innovative uses of technology; they include those in聽fintech,聽med-tech聽and聽ICT such as聽the successful聽Delio,聽DevOpsGuys聽and聽Elidir聽Health.聽?
Commenting on their participation in the Digital Dozen in 2016,聽CEO of North-Wales based聽Elidir聽Health,聽Dyfan聽Searell, said: 鈥淏eing part of the Digital Dozen really let people know we 鈥榣anded鈥�. It gave us a platform to show the world we鈥檙e a serious proposition. Not only that, it was fantastic for networking, raising our profile and enabling us to open up our market on a national level.鈥�
In South Wales, Gareth Lewis, CEO of聽Delio,聽said: 鈥淭he Digital Dozen puts you alongside the most exciting and talked about businesses in Wales. It opened up lots of opportunities for us across the UK and further afield and we鈥檝e gone from strength to strength, so much so we have opened an office in Belgium and just picked up the award for best digital start-up in Wales.鈥�
James Smith, former Digital Dozen participant and CEO of聽DevOpsGuys, added: 鈥淚t聽was a great experience giving us exposure across Wales and the wider business community. We were really pleased about the level of attention we received; from pitching to investors to media attention which gives us real credibility with our prospects.
“It鈥檚 also really聽supported our investment drive.鈥�