This week we marked the end of the first cohort of the Breakthrough Labs accelerator with our first investor pitch day. This event was part celebration, part graduation and part final exam, as eight of our ten superstar start-ups pitched for investment in front of a room full of investors.
From l to r: Faye Ingram of Smile, Stiliyana Minkovska of Matrix Health and Care, Jennifer Mathisen of KiDSiE, Rita Hendricusdottir of Reg-Metrics, our founder Dr Kristen Weatherby, Rheo Nanton of The Fload App, Amanda Bell of SeparateSpace, Janine Matho of ExponentialChangemakers and Eleanor Wright of Tel x AI.
We had been working toward this day for the entirety of the 4-month accelerator programme. Every workshop the start-ups participated in helped them build a stronger, more investible business, which in turn influenced their pitch. We provided the founders with multiple opportunities to practice their pitches, receiving feedback from investors and other advisors along the way. And they heard from a panel of investors as to what is important to have in the pitch deck itself.
We were fortunate to host the evening at UCL's home for entrepreneurship, Base KX. And we had a fantastic panel of investors asking questions and providing feedback to the start-ups, from a range investment organisations representing well over 1000 angel investors and exceeding £100M in investment potential. We are extremely grateful to Oxford Innovation Finance, Angel Academe, South East Angels, Octopus Ventures, Queen's Park Equity and UBS for suppporting us on the day, as well as all the other investors, partners and academic institutions in attendance.
It was a fantastic evening, but don't just take our word for it. We have had nothing but positive feedback from attendees and founders alike, and there have been multiple follow-up conversations between start-ups and investors regarding possible investment.
While this pitch evening marked the end of the formal programme for our first accelerator cohort, it is not the end. Breakthrough Labs is a community, and we will continue to offer opportunities for this group of female founders to connect and learn with each other. We have opened applications for our second accelerator cohort, which starts in September, allowing us to add to our growing community of innovative, passionate women who are looking bring their great ideas to market.
Join us! Together, we're out to change the world!
*Special thank you to Kathryn Fell Photography for these spectacular photos!