Bristol’s SETsquared tech incubator has recorded its most successful year since launching in 2002, with its 80-plus member businesses collectively creating 1,300 jobs and raising more than £130m in funding.
The centre, regularly recognised as among the best in the world, has more than 80 active members – many working at the leading edge of range of technologies.
Among its success stories last year were Graphcore, which secured funding for continued and accelerated growth by raising $80m (£57.7m) on its way to becoming world leader in AI and machine learning.
Long-established chip developer Xmos obtained a $15m (£11.4m) investment to accelerate its work in developing world-leading technology which could lead to a new generation of voice-enabled consumer products.
University of Bristol spinout Zeetta Networks also grew through raising a total of £4m, moving to new offices, and graduating to exclusive SETsquared Bristol Alumni status.
The total of £130m raised by SETsquared Bristol firms last year was a 225% increase in 2016 total.
SETsquared, which is backed by the University of Bristol and based at the city’s Engine Shed innovation hub, also continued to pioneer new attitudes to gender diversity in tech.
The hi-tech incubator now has 11 female founders and more than 25% female employees – an example it is encouraging all member firms to emulate this year.
It has further championed gender diversity by working with the Female Founders Forum, delivering Women’s Tech Hub interviews, engaging more female advisors and reviewing and improving resources to support women in the sector.
A new SETsquared Bristol-funded research project will this year also delve deeper into understanding ethnic diversity across the tech sector.
Sector diversity is another strong point for the incubator, with members spanning 37 industry types from aerospace to agriculture.
The SETsquared Bristol team was also expanded with the arrival IoT entrepreneur-in-residence Pete Keevil and community manager Paul Forster.
SETsquared Bristol centre director Emma Thorn said: “2017 was a tremendous year for our incubator as we notched up many notable successes directly and with our ventures. However, we are not idle and we are already using these successes to build on as we have big goals for the year ahead.
“As SETsquared Bristol membership grows, so will business support levels, and we hope that investors, founders, mentors, and panellist pools will continue to diversify. We’ll also be enabling and encouraging peer-to-peer and alumni engagement as SETsquared Bristol continues to evolve its world-class incubator offer.”
Other highlights for SETsquared Bristol last year included the launch of its partnership with Oracle, which chose Bristol as the location of its first UK Startup Cloud Accelerator. The second cohort of fledgling businesses on the programme will start early this year.
SETsquared Bristol was also selected by the UK Digital Catapult to deliver the IoT Boost programme. One of its supported businesses, Kairo – the UK’s first chat-based virtual assistant that can organise the busiest of modern families – won the Best Elevator Pitch award at the SETsquared Tech-Xpo showcase in June.
Lisa Matthews, CEO of HellyHolly, which developed Kairo, said: “The SETsquared community and the wider Bristol start-up ecosystem is a constant source of motivation and inspiration for us, and Tech-Xpo is a great demonstration of the thriving and supportive scene we’ve got here in Bristol. We’re excited for Kairo’s future as part of it.”
SETsquared Bristol is one of five centres in a partnership backed by the universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey. The centres accelerate tech-based businesses with high-growth potential to move from their initial idea into commercial viability.
The SETsquared network was named ‘Global Number 1 University Business Incubator’ in 2015.
Pictured: Lisa Matthews, centre, of Kairo, winner of SETsquared Bristol’s ‘Best Elevator Pitch’ award last year at Tech-Xpo 2. Lisa is flanked by 2017 Tech-Xpo sponsors Nathan Guest of VWV, David Goodall of Barclays and Marina Traversari and Hazel Fleming of Oracle Startup Cloud Accelerator
