Here’s your weekly roundup of news about startup competitions, awards, co-working spaces, accelerators and any other exciting things happening in the UK tech sector.
Startupbootcamp launches Energy program in Australia
Startupbootcamp has announced the launch of its new Energy Australia accelerator program opening in Melbourne.
The accelerator will focus on startups working across a range of areas: smart grid; sustainable cities & living; smart buildings and infrastructure; IoT and connectivity; energy sharing and trading; big data and advanced analytics; blockchain; artificial intelligence and machine learning.
The program has gained support from firms including EnergyAustralia, Spotless Group, DiUS, KHQ Lawyers, Amazon Web Services, Cisco and LaunchVic.
Ruud Hendriks, co-founder Startupbootcamp, said: “We’ve been working at getting a program going in Melbourne for over 12 months now and it’s been an amazing journey so far. When we met with the team at EnergyAustralia, it was obvious that we had found a launching partner intent on working with us to build a special Smart Energy ecosystem with global ambitions.
“This coupled with an amazing local team led by Trevor and Richard, and the supplementary corporate and government support, makes me extremely excited about this program and the impact it will have.”
Applications are now open and will close Friday, 27th October 2017.
London to get new co-working space
Mindspace will be opening its first co-working space in London’s Whitechapel.
Set to open in December, the new location will span two floors and over 30,000 sq ft to accommodate 700 members.
Founded in 2014 by Dan Zakai and Yotam Alroy, Mindspace operates 13 co-working spaces across Europe, in locations such as Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Tel Aviv and Warsaw.
Dan Zakai, co-founder and CEO of Mindspace, said: “We’re excited to announce the arrival of our first co-working space in London, the most advanced market for coworking in Europe. Mindspace solves for an unmet need of many London-based businesses for a cosmopolitan, high-end, and generous coworking offering.
“At Mindspace London, companies and community members will get everything they need to grow their business and keep their teams happy, at the highest possible quality, from a caring team of Community Managers, and without being asked to pay extra for every little thing. I expect Londoners will be pleasantly surprised with the Mindspace new standard for coworking.”
Funding for Northern Ireland’s HealthTech startups
Tech firms can now apply for up to £60,000 in funding available for solutions seeking to improve the health of women affected by gestational diabetes.
The Department of Health and Department for Economy will award a maximum of £60,000 per project for technologies which can:
- enable diabetic pregnant women to take better control of their health
- increase the effectiveness of interventions
- reduce pressure on health care services, (maternity, neonatal and endocrinology services)
- support an ongoing care programme
- improve the lives, well-being and outcomes for maternal and infant health
- enable women to lead as normal a life as possible
- reduce the need for travel to specialist clinics
The competition is part of the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI) competition and the GEMS project – ‘gestational, type 1 and type 2 diabetes empowering mothers through mobile technologies’.
The application deadline is 3pm on 25th August 2017.
The Collective’s social impact accelerator
Co-living company The Collective is to launch a month-long residential social impact accelerator for early-stage startups.
As part of the program, 10 of the firm’s inaugural members will live and work at The Collective Old Oak for the duration of the programme and all share a common mission: to create opportunities for people in need through cutting-edge technology.
Reza Merchant, CEO of The Collective, said: “As someone who has started their own business from scratch and knows how daunting it can be, I applaud the commitment of these very talented individuals to pursuing business ideas which will help those who need it the most.”
A ‘demo day’, where the cohort will present to impact investors, will take place on 24th August 2017.
The Office Group’s 100 competition
The Office Group has launched the second round of its TOG 100 competition, offering 100 startups run by young entrepreneurs the chance to win free co-working space a 12 months over the next three years.
The winning startups will be based at the newly opened White Collar Factory, located at London’s Old Street Roundabout .
Olly Olsen, Co-CEO at TOG, commented: “We were thrilled to receive such a positive response from the first round of TOG 100. It’s inspiring to see so many talented young people turning their passions into a working business, and we are proud to be able to support them on their journey.
“Many of these young entrepreneurs are working from home where they lack social interaction and the support of both those on the same journey and those who have come out the other side and are now running successful businesses. Having a place to call home is essential to establishing any business and we look forward to welcoming more young entrepreneurs to the TOG family where they can thrive and contribute to our vibrant community culture.”
Applications must be submitted by 18 August 2017.
Appear Here’s Space for Ideas competition
Appear Here has partnered with Square to launch its Space for Ideas competition.
The competition is seeking to find the brightest minds in retail and give three visionary entrepreneurs a pop-up shop (rent free!) and the support necessary to launch their concepts in top retail destinations such as London, Paris or New York City.
This year’s panel of judges consists of:
- Neil Blumenthal, founder of Warby Parker
- Natalie Massenet, founder of Net-a-Porter and co-chairman of Farfetch
- Ajaz Ahmed, founder of AKQA
- Nick Jones, founder and CEO of Soho House
Entries close on 15th September and the winners will be announced on 21st September 21st.
Another co-working space in London’s Hatton Garden
Workspace has launched The Record Hall, the latest addition to its portfolio of flexible office and coworking spaces in London.
Angus Boag, development director at Workspace, said: “The opening of The Record Hall is the culmination of nearly two years of hard work to transform the building into a dynamic environment which enables businesses to perform at their best.
“The Record Hall has been designed to meet the growing need for flexible work space among London’s diverse business community – offering resilient, secure and fast data along with building-wide Wi-Fi, break-out areas to collaborate with like-minded professionals and room to grow.
“We have been successful in creating strong business communities across our other Midtown business centres and The Record Hall is no different – the first customers have already moved in and the atmosphere is beginning to buzz.”