University Enterprise Zone awards funding to innovative start-ups

The Space to Grow programme has supported a further two innovative start-ups to secure a significant slice of funding from the University Enterprise Zone Fund managed by the University of Essex in their second round of Angels@Essex investment funding.

The two companies, which both use artificial intelligence in different ways to develop new products and services, are on the Angels@Essex equity investment platform and secured early-stage funding through a competitive pitching process supported by Space to Grow.

Both Angels@Essex and Space to Grow are key elements of Essex’s University Enterprise Zone, which is funded by Research England and designated by the Government as a regional centre for nurturing and supporting new digital and creative businesses.

Access to the next round of funding will be available for innovative businesses to compete for in early 2021, following successful completion of the Space to Grow programme. The next round of funding will be worth at least £162,000 of investment funding.

The two latest successful businesses are:

• LimboTech – which has developed a live motion-capture technology to track entire body movements directly onto a media platform in real-time.
• Upside Money – which is an online banking platform that gives customers cashback automatically when shopping with brands.

These businesses join Bidnstay, WYSPR, Conigital and Citispotter as early recipients of the Angels@Essex investment fund so far.

Getting businesses investor ready

All are early-stage enterprises seeking funding to develop their innovative ideas. The funding comes from the UEZ Fund managed by the University of Essex and all were awarded following a highly competitive pitching process.

All the successful businesses received investment readiness pitch training and support from the Space to Grow programme team, based at the University’s Knowledge Gateway, Innovation Centre. Due to the high quality of their presentations, some were also invited to pitch to the prestigious Cambridge Angel network.

Angels@Essex is an FCA compliant equity investment platform that allows registered investors to view and engage with opportunities from invited innovators. Support is provided to both parties to ensure the best fit. More than £3.49m has been pledged to opportunities by investors since its launch in early May 2020.

Essex Alumni Dave Norton CEO of LimboTech said “The big thing about the Angels@Essex support is, it’s bespoke to you. It’s not just general information they’ve copied off Google. They’re experts with so much experience and so much knowledge.”

Supporting ambitious businesses

Business Support Manager John Stenhouse said: “The Space to Grow programme is all about supporting ambitious early stage businesses which have the potential to transform their sectors.”

“We’re really proud to have supported these two businesses to refine their approaches to pitching for investment and to connect them with investment opportunities and new funding sources. We have a programme of exceptional webinars in 2021 to get more businesses investor ready by giving them access to leading experts.”

Find out more on both the Space to Grow Investment Readiness programme and Angels@Essex equity investment platform, visit the University Enterprise Zone website.

View the latest case studies from UEZ here: Limbotech, Upside

For further information, please email us: uez@essex.ac.uk