Registration is now open for Venturefest West Midlands, where the Pitchfest final puts Midlands entrepreneurs in front a panel of investors to do live Dragons’ Den style presentations.
The single day event will take place on Thursday 27th September at iCentrum.
Pitchfest is run by the University of Birmingham’s BizzInn business incubator, the Centre for Growth at Aston University, and Minerva at the University of Warwick Science Park and is tailored for growth-focussed businesses in the science and technology sector.
Pitchfest takes entrepreneurs through pitch training and preparation to intense judging rounds, where the best pitches emerge and compete in the Grand Final for a chance to win access to Minerva’s professional networks of angel investors.
Last year’s Pitchfest finalists include Aceleron, Essentially Yours, Limitless Travel, and solv.ai, and according to David Coleman, Head of Enterprise Acceleration at University of Birmingham Enterprise, all of these companies have gone on to do great things.
David commented: “It’s no surprise that Pitchfest finalists do well in business. The competition attracts the brightest business minds in the Midlands, puts them through their paces during pitch training, and then exposes them to the pressure of a live pitch – and this entire process sharpens their delivery, improves their business networks, and develops their business ideas to the point where they are highly investible.”
Working alongside Pitchfest, the Richardson Brothers Foundation will be attending this year’s Venturefest to shortlist businesses for its inaugural new venture competition, which will offer an investment prize of £30k later this year.
In addition to Pitchfest, the programme for the day includes keynote speeches from Marcus Barton of Yamazaki Mazak UK, Sherry Coutu of the Scale-Up Institute – as well as the opportunity to take part in a live cyber-security experiment lead by the CEO of Digital INov8ors Ltd.
ENDS
For further information about Venturefest West Midlands, visit the website at:
About the BizzInn
The BizzInn is the University of Birmingham’s business incubator. It provides incubation, training, mentoring and bespoke business support from expert advisors and entrepreneurs in residence. The BizzInn is run by University of Birmingham Enterprise, and based at the Birmingham Research Park on the University campus. Membership of the BizzInn is by application, and is available to Birmingham-based entrepreneurs, start-ups and companies that are ready to scale. To apply, contact Andrew Cruxton, A.Cruxton@bham.ac.uk.
About University of Birmingham Enterprise
University of Birmingham Enterprise Ltd is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the University of Birmingham. The company commercializes innovations arising from research, and enterprise training, funding, and a full technology transfer service for the University. It also manages the University’s spinout portfolio, and business and bio-incubation services and facilities at the Birmingham Research Park.
For further media information about University of Birmingham Enterprise contact Ruth Ashton, Reputation & Communications Development Manager at r.c.ashton@bham.ac.uk or 0121 414 9090.