Innovative tech businesses from across the South came together in London to pitch for 拢20m investment to an audience of 150聽investors at SETsquared鈥檚 annual Accelerating Growth Investment Showcase.
The companies pitching included Good Sixty, LettUs Grow, LuJam Security Ltd and Motion Impossible from Bristol.
Emma Thorn, centre director at business incubation network SETsquared in聽Bristol said: 鈥淚 am hugely proud of the success that businesses involved with SETsquared achieve on their pathway to growth.
鈥淭his year we have seen some extraordinary companies come forward with fantastic investment propositions.
鈥淭he investor community that we work with has turned out in significant numbers. This is a testament to the faith that they have in quality of the deal flow presented at SETsquared events.
鈥淚n 2016 businesses we supported raised 拢166.7m and I am confident after today 2017 will also be a bumper year for the companies we have been working with.鈥�
20 of the UK鈥檚 most exciting聽start-ups and scale-ups were at the showcase vying for investments of between 拢200k and 拢3m from an audience of more than 150 investors and corporates on 5th December 2017.
The businesses pitching at the event have developed technology in the sectors of advanced engineering, VR, retail, healthcare, robotics and cyber security.
Andy Nancollis, CTO at Motion Impossible, who market robotic dolly systems for VR filming, said:聽鈥淲e鈥檙e very excited to be pitching today at SETsquared鈥檚 Investment Showcase in London.
鈥淭he commercial support and advice that SETsquared has given us has been invaluable. We鈥檙e really hoping that the event will put us in contact with an investor who can help us to scale up our robotics business. 鈥�
Jack Farmer, founder and director at LettUs Grow, who provide irrigation and control tech solutions for vertical farms, said: 鈥淚t has been a positive day, we鈥檝e met lots of interesting investors and potential collaborators.
鈥淚t has been fantastic to meet investors who can bring more than just funding, but also connections, mentorship and a shared vision.鈥�
Davide Sangiovanni, founder of Graffiti Syndicate, said: 鈥淚 was very impressed with the quality and range of the investment opportunities on offer.
鈥淭he propositions put forward were well considered and the pitches were very high quality. I will definitely be returning next year.鈥�
Over the last 15 years SETsquared has helped more than 1,500 businesses raise over 拢1.25bn in investment, as well as contributing over 拢3.8bn in GVA (Gross Value Added) to the UK economy with 拢8.6bn GVA estimated over the next decade 鈥� figures that contributed to it being named by UBI Global as the top university business incubator in the world.