INSIGHTS / News

Apple has been helping leading university business incubator, SETsquared, to showcase some of the most promising upcoming tech start-ups from the South of England.

SETsquared, the enterprise partnership between the universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey, will bring a total of 22 of its most disruptive and cutting-edge technology start-ups to Apple in Bath, Basingstoke and Exeter this month to pitch to a select audience of investors and mentors.

The pitching events kicked off in Bath yesterday (3 November), with eight start-ups who are developing technologies for industries ranging from healthcare to virtual reality, to green energy, delivering five-minute presentations.

The audience and Apple staff provided feedback and guidance to the entrepreneurs, helping them on the road to investment success.

Among the businesses pitching with SETsquared and Apple are:

• Propagator – which is developing a suite of ‘Living With’ solutions to help patients with chronic conditions such as back pain, arthritis, lung cancer and mental health issues live better lives
• VRGO Ltd – which has created the VRGo chair, a highly-responsive input device that works with virtual reality (VR) and is perfectly designed to fit into typical living spaces
• eCow Developments Ltd – which is developing Milkalyser, a system of measuring milk progesterone during the milking of cows that will revolutionise dairy fertility management
• SEaB Energy Ltd – which has created localised small-scale waste-to-energy plants which convert organic waste into carbon-free heat and electricity, with water and nutrient-rich fertiliser as sole by-products
• Red Skies Technology – which is helping to improve use of public transport in developing countries with its GPS-controlled transport payment system called YoSafari

The next pitching sessions will take place at Apple locations in Basingstoke (7 November) and Exeter (9 November).

The sessions will help prepare the start-ups as they get ready to pitch to more than 150 investors at this year’s Accelerating Growth Investment Showcase, to be held in Central London by SETsquared next month.

Simon Bond, Innovation Director at SETsquared, said: “We’re delighted that Apple is hosting these exclusive pitching sessions.

I know that our entrepreneurs will benefits from the advice and insights that will be shared by the Apple team and invited investor audience at each event. It is great to see the start-up eco-system in the South of England working together like this to help create great new companies in the UK.”

At each session, event sponsors Office Pantry and Frobishers are supplying refreshments. Office Pantry is a SETsquared company based in Bristol that provides offices with healthy snacks, fruit and coffee, while Exeter-based Frobishers creates a wide range of fruit juices, soft drinks and smoothies.