A Cleethorpes-based construction formwork systems company has been crowned winner of the Venturefest Yorkshire 2014 Investment Competition at the event’s annual awards dinner.
Fast Form Systems Ltd beat off stiff competition from four other businesses to win a prize package of business support worth £52,000 at the event in York last night.
The five pitches were judged by an audience of Yorkshire Association of Business Angels (YABA) investors at Venturefest Yorkshire, the annual event celebrating science and technology entrepreneurs in the north of England. The winner was selected by secret ballot, with judges scoring on the originality of the product, potential market size, business model, competitive advantage, management team strength and forecasted profitability.
The £52,000 prize package includes six months office space for the business at York Science Park alongside business coaching, accountancy, HR, publicity, legal and financial services support from some of the region’s top professional services firms.
Investment Competition organiser Barbara Greaves, of YABA, said: “We saw five excellent presentations from a wide range of businesses, all capable of achieving great things. Fast Form Systems is building a business by offering environmental, safety and efficiency benefits to the construction industry, and I think the company will derive huge benefit from the prize package awarded today.”
The other competition entrants included a grid-level electricity storage battery from Wind Power Performance; an Enterprise Social Network platform from TeamsTalk; the Queuedit social media management tool and a solar energy products company, Natural Technology Developments Ltd.
Winners of the three other competitions on the day were:
1. Winner of the Visit York APPtitude prize: Control F1 Ltd (www.controlf1.co.uk)
2. Winner of the City of York Council prize: www.appware.co.uk
3. Winner of the 2014 Innovation Showcase Award: www.s3-id.com
Venturefest Yorkshire will return in 2015.