Juicy Adventures: Venturefest South 2019
At the end of March, Team Juicy headed to Venturefest South as part of the Basingstoke Get Launched initiative. #GetLaunched is a collective dedicated to helping start-ups do just that; with support from the SETsquared partnership, IncuHive, Desklodge, Basingstoke & Deane Borough Council, and TechJuice – our own creation! But more on TechJuice later…
Juicy are proud to actively support start-up initiatives including SETsquared and IncuHive, as well as our lovely corporate clients. Giving back, paying forward and helping create a vibrant local business community is important to us. Being part of Basingstoke Get Launched gives us the chance to collaborate with others that feel the same as we do, to spread the word about our brilliant corner of the South.
Venturefest South is a one-day conference for innovators, entrepreneurs and investors, this year welcoming over 1000 attendees! Donned in our matching Get Launched t-shirts, we set off early (much to our dismay, though the promise of a bacon butty certainly helped get us out of bed) to head to the Ageas Bowl in Southampton, ready for a day of pitches, networking and gorgeous Spring sunshine! A stark contrast to last year’s “beast from the East”!
Get Launched had a number of businesses pitching, and we sat in on 3 of them; Mysokoni, Kuldea and HOLM. It was fantastic to see such strong pitches and well-handled answers to some tricky questions from the investors; they were all commended on their high standard.
What were we doing?
Our involvement in Venturefest included helping promote Basingstoke as a fantastic place for business, conducting interviews with those pitching, and generally chatting with entrepreneurs to find out more about the innovations that are occurring in the South right now. Some of our favourites were Solar Sidewalk and Artecology for their environmental impact, and Zip Us In, an expandable jacket panel for pregnancy, purely because it’s genius and we wish we’d thought of it!
Being based in Basingstoke for 20 years, we know just how fab it is! Basingstoke offers business support from SETsquared and IncuHive, affordable and flexible workspace at Desklodge and IncuHive, networking opportunities, excellent transport links, great social spaces and a growing tech scene.
We built TechJuice to inform and educate on topics including 5G, AI and technology trends, with features from leading experts in their field. It’s also a showcase for all the technology goings-on in Basingstoke. Did you know that Basingstoke is one of the top 5 tech hubs in the UK? If you have something interesting to say, want to help make a difference and grow the technology scene in Basingstoke then TechJuice is a channel for you too! And it’s powered by Juicy.
As we mentioned before, aside from promoting Basingstoke, we spent some time interviewing pitchers and exhibitors to find out about their businesses and what they think of Basingstoke and SETsquared.
Here’s what our interviewees said…
“There’s a lot going on in Basingstoke, a lot of entrepreneurial spirit, the whole 5g thing is amazing”
Tom Ridges“Basingstoke is a brilliant place for tech businesses. Being an entrepreneur can be lonely and being surrounded by people in the Desklodge space is fantastic because there’s a lot of similar people in the same situation as you, looking to learn from each other”
Matt Phillips“Having been at SETsquared for the best part of 18 months, you know what you’re building has longevity, it’s well founded and has a strong base to move forward”
Mike Peates“You’ve got that connectivity to the rest of the UK, so what more would you want as a business. Basingstoke is very well situated for that”
John Halsted“SETsquared builds a business community which has actually helped accelerate our growth a lot because we share ideas, we network together, we have access to resources that otherwise you wouldn’t have by yourself”
Ray Wright“Desklodge gives me the time to think, it’s a very collaborative space, there’s a lot of support here as well which is fantastic, and also the tech”
Phil WarrenerSo, there you have it! Basingstoke is a great place for business, and that’s coming from start-ups, not just from us! If you’d like to know more about tech in Basingstoke, you can check out TechJuice here. Make sure you sign up to the monthly newsletter!
Venturefest was a great success this year and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves (and the glass of wine to close the event), we can’t wait to see the progress made by next year!
Don’t forget, if you’re a small business, a tech business – or even a big business! – we’re only a call or email away if you need some marketing know-how!
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