News
THE DRAGONS ARE COMING...
Back for the second year in succession, researchers from the BBC2 hit Dragons' Den programme will be amongst the exhibitors at Venturefest Yorkshire.
The producers of the show are now looking for candidates to put their pitches to the Dragons. Visit the BBC Dragons' Den stand with your idea and put a pitch to camera. This could be the chance you are waiting for!
YOU SNOOZE YOU COULD LOSE - 7 DECEMBER 2023
Businesses in Yorkshire are being encouraged by Venturefest Yorkshire 2008 organisers to get ahead and win new business whilst their competitors are still in bed.
As well as providing a platform for knowledge, technology and innovation based entrepreneurs to talk to advisers, potential investors and their peers, Venturefest Yorkshire will also open its doors at 7.15am to welcome delegates who want to beat the crowds and to meet business contacts over breakfast.
The networking breakfast will be fronted by Dr Malcolm Wilkinson of Kirkstall Limited - the 2007 winner of the Venturefest Yorkshire Investment Competition which snapped up prizes worth £29,000. Malcolm will share his experiences of how Kirkstall Limited, the Sheffield-based technology company, became the competition winner and will talk about how the company has developed in the time since the February 2007 event.
Kirkstall Limited develops technology, products and services that remove risks on the drug development process and speed new compounds to the market whilst reducing the need for animal testing. The company was recognised for its innovation by judges at the Investment Competition, run by Connect Yorkshire in association with the Yorkshire Association of Business Angels, which aims to recognise and reward the best of Yorkshire’s new talent.
Says Venturefest Yorkshire chairman, Peter Claydon, “The breakfast seminar is a fantastic opportunity for businesses to get ahead and have the first chance to meet the exhibitors and delegates at next year’s Venturefest Yorkshire event. Kirkstall was a very worthy winner of the Investment Competition and promises to give a thought provoking presentation with an interesting insight into life after Venturefest. Early birds are being encouraged to book soon to avoid disappointment.”
Since its success at Venturefest Yorkshire, Kirkstall Ltd has gone on to secure £100,000 investment from South Yorkshire Investments Fund’s Seedcorn Fund, which is coincidently one of the key sponsors of Venturefest Yorkshire 2008. The support will help the company to develop products which will reduce the need for animal testing as well as providing early warnings for the adverse reactions to drugs which will reduce the risks for volunteers during the early stages of clinical drug trials.
For those interested in attending the Venturefest Yorkshire 2008 breakfast networking event, places can be booked via the register link on the www.venturefestyorkshire.net home page.
£40K UP FOR GRABS FOR YORK’S WOULD-BE ENTREPRENEURS
A young, York-based communications software company is encouraging the region’s entrepreneurs to seize a golden opportunity and tap into vital support to help kick-start their business.
As the countdown to Venturefest Yorkshire 2008 gets underway, Lattice Voice Technologies is encouraging others to get involved in the event and reap some of the benefits his firm has enjoyed.
MD Neil McCutcheon says his business secured vital financial support via Venturefest, which enabled him and his team to develop its language identification technology.
“We took part in the event because we’d heard it was a must for anyone wanting to get a science or technology business off the ground,” he says. “We did a lot of work in the run up to the event with Connect Yorkshire who helped us to prepare our pitch as part of the Investment Competition. This involved key introductions to venture capitalists, including an introduction to the YFM Group which subsequently invested in our company. This simply wouldn’t have happened without Venturefest. There is just so much for would-be businesses to gain by being there.”
The Investment Competition is organised by Connect Yorkshire in association with the Yorkshire Association of Business Angels, aiming to recognise and reward the best of Yorkshire’s new talent. The 2008 competition will give entrepreneurs the opportunity to win £5,000 cash and £25,000-worth of business support services. The Investment Competition will be chaired by Radio 4 Business Correspondent Peter Day.
In addition to the Investment Competition, the region’s would-be and fledgling businesses will also have the opportunity to secure support via Innovation Showcase (formerly Innovation Central). The interactive exhibition area gives entrepreneurs and would-be business owners maximum exposure to professional advisers, investors, supply partners and other entrepreneurs.
Says Innovation Showcase sponsor, Gavin Hine, of Business Link, “Innovation Showcase has been designed to give Yorkshire’s top 50 young innovative science and technology businesses maximum exposure. They get free exhibition space, the opportunity to promote themselves to over 2,000 delegates, to make contact with investors, senior industry specialists, buyers and business professionals and access to specialist seminars, not to mention scope to win a prize worth £10,000. We expect demand for the Innovation Showcase area to be high and we look forward to selecting the best 50 young businesses to feature on the day.”
Venturefest Yorkshire 2008, supported by Yorkshire Forward and sponsored by companies such as Garbutt and Elliott, takes place at York Racecourse on February 6 2008. Details of all the opportunities open to entrepreneurs and young businesses, and how to apply, are available at www.venturefestyorkshire.net.
SEPTEMBER 2007 RELEASE
NEW CHAIR HERALDS NEW ERA FOR TOP
Venturefest Yorkshire - the entrepreneurial event hailed by Dragons’ Den’s Doug Richard as ‘the best in the country’ - is back in the region for a fifth successive year, with a new chairman at the helm and a top global businesswoman as keynote speaker.
Peter Claydon, a founder director of the Leeds-based YFM Group, takes over the Venturefest reins from Tony Robards, former Pro Vice Chancellor of the
Peter says he is delighted that the event is once again being supported by Yorkshire Forward, and he plans to ‘provide continuity with an agenda for expansion and development’. He’s particularly keen to build on the work that Professor Robards - and Venturefest Yorkshire - has done to help entrepreneurs find and secure crucial funding to get a business off the ground.
One of his first actions has been to secure the event’s first female keynote speaker who, he says, gives a clear indication of the direction in which Venturefest is heading:
“Julie Meyer, co-founder of the First Tuesday network and chief executive of global investment and advisory venture, Ariadne Capital, will be drawing on her experience of global operations and raising millions of pounds of start-up capital to challenge Venturefest delegates to think big.
“Julie is probably best known for founding First Tuesday, but she has also raised over $100 million for start-ups and overseen a further $150 million of seed capital over the last 17 years.
“She has been voted a trailblazer and one of today’s most influential businesswomen in a series of national and international polls and listed in Channel 4’s PowerList, The Guardian Top 50 new economy entrepreneurs and Time Magazine’s Digital 25 - to name but a few!
“In her current role Julie has financial responsibility for Ariadne Capital, the group she founded in 2000 following the sale of First Tuesday, and I believe that anyone preparing to get a technology business off the ground will benefit greatly from what she has to say at Venturefest.”
Peter Claydon says the event in February 2008 will be streamlined to focus on what the organisers know entrepreneurs are looking for. “We’ll have two themed seminar ‘tracks’; one looking at securing investment and the other providing more general support and guidance for entrepreneurs,” he says.
“Combining these advice sessions with a multitude of opportunities for people to talk to advisers, support groups, potential investors and their peers will help ensure they get maximum value out of the day. Our aim is to put together an event that gets right to the heart of what entrepreneurs really need, and delivers it.”