Exeter tech pioneers pitch for investment

Innovative tech businesses from across Southern England, including Care Systems & Innovation and KOMPAS from Exeter, came together in London on Wednesday to pitch for £20m of investment to an audience of 150 investors at SETsquared’s annual Accelerating Growth Investment Showcase.

Joe Pearce, Business Support Manager, at SETsquared in Exeter said: “I am hugely proud of the success that businesses involved with SETsquared achieve on their pathway to growth. This year we have seen some extraordinary companies come forward with fantastic investment propositions.

“The 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. In 2016 businesses we supported raised £166.7m and I am confident after today, 2017 will also be a bumper year for the companies we have been working with.”

20 of the UK’s most exciting start-ups and scale-ups were at the showcase vying for investments of between £200k and £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.

Barnaby Griffith, CEO at Care Systems & Innovation, who deliver a dashboard for regulated care homes that improves care and helps with compliance, said:

“We’ve met wonderful people and have had great support from the SETsquared team. The event has opened up some opportunities that we didn’t think would be available to us. We are already seeing the benefit of some of the conversations we have had with investors.”

Davide Sangiovanni, Founder of Graffiti Syndicate, said: “I was very impressed with the quality and range of the investment opportunities on offer. The propositions put forward were well considered and the pitches were very high-quality. I will definitely be returning next year.” 

Over the last 15 years SETsquared has helped more than 1,500 businesses raise over £1.25bn in investment, as well as contributing over £3.8bn in GVA (Gross Value Added) to the UK economy with £8.6bn GVA estimated over the next decade – figures that contributed to it being named by UBI Global as the top university business incubator in the world.