Tech North hosted the second regional heat of their Northern Stars competition on Thursday night and we were on hand to show our support and find out more about some of this year’s best and brightest candidates.
Confident and well prepared, the candidates pitched their companies to a panel of industry experts in the race for the prestigious Tech North top spot award.
Presented in the style of the popular investment TV programme, Dragons Den, the judges seemed to be looking for well-structured pitches, good stage presence and a strong business model – they weren’t disappointed.
Who are Tech North?
Tech North is a government-backed initiative charged with accelerating the growth of the digital business sector in the North of England. They do this through a series of programmes, events, research and editorial focusing on start-ups, investment, people and components of the digital ecosystem.
Tech North provide the building blocks for the digital spaces in the North of England – bringing together tech-related businesses, encouraging collaboration and sharing good practise through events such as Northern Stars. Tech North provides a platform for businesses to grow and shine in a competitive industry.
What is the Northern Stars event all about?
In its third year now, Northern Stars is the UK’s most exciting pitch competition which finds and showcases the best start-ups in the north of England and ultimately, helps them to find success.
Pitching companies have just three minutes to pitch their ideas to the judging panel and a further three minutes to answer follow-up questions. It’s a very short time to get all the info across so only the best of the best will shine.
Twenty finalists from the three heats and (direct entry channels) go through to pitch to all-star judges at a final in November. Ten of these companies will be crowned winners and they’ll receive prizes such as pitch training, media training and an exclusive Amazon Web Services package and support.
This year, the Northern Stars second regional heat was held at Constellations – a suitable location as it was Baltic Triangle based company, Living Lens who won the overall competition last year. The event is firmly putting Liverpool, and the Baltic Triangle on the proverbial creative tech map.
Who Pitched?
Four Merseyside based companies pitched at this year’s regional event in The Baltic Triangle:
ALGOLIB @AlgorithmLib
Based in Liverpool and with offices in London too, Algolib is the UK’s first AaaS (algorthim as a service) innovator. They are a high-tech company who deliver Business Intelligence Solutions and a Cloud-based Community-powered Algorithm Trading Platform.
DRIVERNET @DriverNetTeam
An online logistics network and mobile app that connects drivers to customers or sites in swifter, safer and more sustainable ways.
PROPERTY CLOUD ONLINE MANAGEMENT LTD @propcloudapp
Property Cloud automates the entire lettings process with a host of unique features in a single package that’s comprehensive and easy to navigate; providing greater transparency they aim to take the pain out of property lettings.
RULER ANALYTICS @ruleranalytics
Ruler Analytics closes the loop between marketing and sales by matching customer form fills, phone calls and chat against the marketing campaign and keyword from which it was generated. It then integrates the data and measure it based on real revenues not just leads.
Why the Baltic Triangle?
We asked some of the judges why they thought the Baltic Triangle was a good choice to host this event.
Adam Gillett – Head of crowdcube northern branch:
“If you put together talented people in a specific destination, then good things are going to happen. Us as individuals, and Tech North as a company, didn’t attract the Baltic Triangle; the Baltic Triangle attracted us. We are attracted to what’s going on here.”
Volker Hirsch – entrepreneur & co-founder of Tech North Advocates:
“You have this gorgeous quarter here in the Baltic, in the middle of Liverpool – it’s like Shoreditch. It’s cool. It has character. I prefer it to Shoreditch actually. There’s a slightly rougher edge to it and holding things here in the Baltic Triangle, it’s an early indicator of more things to come.”
Who won?
Ruler Analytics won this leg of the regional heats and will go on to compete in the final 16th November.
Managing director Daniel Reilly told us:
“The win means a lot to us as it is another award from a wider tech industry body and it all helps amplify our message both in the UK and globally.
“Baltic was a fitting location as it is the home of Digital, Creative and Tech in the Greater Liverpool region and also an area full of positive energy and growth. What’s more it is where Ian and I started our first business back in 2010 so it is an area close to our heart.
“Our hope is to continue to grow the Ruler Analytics business and user base globally and to keep solving problems for marketer.”
And finally…
Our congratulations go out to Ruler Analytics and all those who participated in this wonderful event. We wish Ruler Analytics the very best of luck for the final pitch 16 November 2017.
