SETsquared Partnership offers a million pearls of wisdom to grow business in recession

Technology business acceleration specialists SETsquared (the enterprise partnership of Bristol, Bath, Southampton & Surrey universities) has brought new Bristol-based software company Brightpearl into a major phase of expansion ...

, helping them secure $1.5 million of funding, announced earlier this week.

Brightpearl, which provides integrated web-based software for accounting, CRM, stock control and ecommerce for SMEs, approached SETsquared in May 2009 to help with their business planning, and after just a year of tailored mentoring and direction, Brightpearl are moving into the global B2B market, with an effective business model, marketing strategy and funding for substantial growth from Eden Ventures and Notion Capital.

Nick Sturge, Centre Director at the Bristol SETsquared Business Acceleration Centre says:

“When we met Brightpearl they were already trading but needed specific advice from people who understood their product and marketplace. SETsquared is all about high tech businesses who have potential for fast track high growth.” He continues, “A deep understanding of their needs, and our superb business network are our particular strengths in supporting these companies”.

The SETsquared Partnership connects industry and academic research, through technology transfer, licensing, and creating spin-outs. But most importantly during times of recession, the Partnership drives new business opportunities from within the community, called “spin-ins” of which Brightpearl is an example. Through its four Business Acceleration Centres in Bath, Bristol, Guildford and Southampton, SETsquared has incubated more than 200 companies of which over 80% were “spin-ins” looking for help to grow their business. In the Bristol Centre alone, over £45m has been raised by its member companies in the last 2 years.

Although the Business Acceleration Centres offer everything from low-cost desk space for start ups to entrepreneurs in residence, it was clear that Brightpearl would benefit from SETsquared’s demanding Business Review Panel (BRP) process. The concept of a BRP is to help keep up the pace of development and check for pitfalls – vital for safer, sustainable growth. A company is invited to face a bespoke panel of experts in their field, who challenge the entrepreneurs on their strategy and help identify areas of weakness or scope for development. The venture will then take forward the actions agreed and their progress is usually assessed again every 4 months.

The founders of BrightPearl were put through a BRP, designed specifically as a model board meeting to help them prepare for the critical period after investment. This has proved a key enabler to their growth.

Andrew Mulvenna, co-founder and director of Brightpearl said of the experience, “BRP was great for us because it can be tailored to what the company needs at the time. The first panel focused on our markets and business model, but we then needed to get ready to seek investment funding, so our second panel was designed to reflect a typical board meeting where stakeholders and investors would be present”.

Similar panels are run for the SETsquared members across the other Business Acceleration Centres all with the aim of providing high quality expertise and technical support to businesses at the right time for them, driving and encouraging companies to take the next step from incubation to commercial success.

To read a case study on Brightpearl please click here

Release date: 24 06 2010
Contact: Nick Sturge

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