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Startup Weekly: FinTech demo day, Brexit survey, WeWork launch & more

startup weekly 22nd april

Here’s your weekly round up of startup competitions, awards, co-working space and accelerator news.

2016 Talent Unleashed Awards

The Talent Unleashed Awards announced call for entries this week with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson at the helm of the hunt for the country’s best and brightest tech entrepreneurs.

Wozniak will head up the judging panel alongside Branson, EMEA VP Nicola Mendelsohn and many more high profile names in business and technology

UK finalists will compete for a chance to win one-on-one time with Apple’s co-founder and a trip to Silicon Valley at the global finals in Sydney in August.

TechEast launch

TechEastLaunch

Tech City News attended the launch of TechEast held at London’s BT Tower earlier this week.

Established to raise awareness about tech companies in the East of England – and seeking to attract tech-related firms to the area – TechEast is aiming to underpin the creation of 5,000 new digital tech jobs by 2020.

During her presentation at the launch, Therese Coffey, Member of Parliament for Suffolk Coastal spoke about the need to establish and promote tech clusters outside of the UK’s capital.

Barclays Demo Day

Some 11 FinTech companies were showcased at Barclays Techstars Demo Day held in the O2 in London.

The event saw the likes of Wala and Cuvva pitch their business solutions on stage.

Ex-TechStars MD joins AI startup

Norwich-based artificial intelligence startup Rainbird announced that Jon Bradford, former MD of TechStars, would join its board of advisors.

Speaking about his new role as a board advisor, Jon Bradford said: “I have followed Rainbird’s progress closely since the Techstars programme and am delighted to see the company gain traction with some very large organisations. Artificial intelligence is one of the most important technical innovations of the 21st Century with profound implications for how both frontline and back office processes operate.”

A Brexit survey

According to a survey by Forward Partners, 77.9% of the 200 startups surveyed would vote to stay in the European Union.

The prime reason for this, the survey found, was the necessity for UK-based tech startups to be able to recruit talent from across Europe.

In fact, some 79.3% of respondents said that access to talent from across the continent, without visa restrictions, was crucial to the continued success of their business.

The remaining 20.8% of those who said they would prefer to stay in the EU believed Brexit would harm the investment landscape, making investor confidence in London across Europe very vulnerable.

WeWork to open new London location

WeWork announced the launch of a new co-working space in London Paddington earlier this week.

The new location is WeWork’s tenth in London and is set to host 2,100 members, adding to WeWork’s existing 7,000 members across the capital.

Private offices start at £850 per month but in terms of general membership and hot-desking, a full price guide can be found here.

Hadu wins SWIFT Institute Challenge 2016

Hadu, a student team from the Warwick Business School, won the inaugural SWIFT Institute Challenge on ‘Remittances via Banks’ taking home a £15,000 prize presented by Harriet Baldwin, economic secretary to The Treasury. As part of the competition, participants had to submit solutions to financial services industry challenges.

 

Pi Labs London

Pi Labs, a proptech-focused venture capital platform, has announced its third cohort, consisting of five new property tech startups which will receive mentoring and funding through the acceleration programme.

The 13 week programme will culminate in a Demo Day where startups will pitch to a room of high profile investors from the proptech space.

Mary Criebardis Singh, programme director Pi Labs said:“When we met these young founders we were impressed with their vision and tenacity, and with the traction they have achieved so far. We are very excited to work with these five companies over the next 13 weeks and to see the positive impact they have on the property industry.

“We are seeing trends in the use and analysis of data for the residential sector; in the planning and permissions space; in student housing; and in the building, design and use of commercial spaces,” she added.

The full list of the current five teams in the accelerator is as follows: Candarin Home, Industry Hub, Office App, Urban Intelligence, Insight Residential.

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