SETsquared Bristol firms create 300 jobs

Companies who are part of SETsquared Bristol, the acclaimed University of Bristol tech incubator, created 300 new jobs in 2023.

SETsquared Bristol supports the growth of over 100 technology startups, helping them move from initial ideas into commercial viability.

Its companies also generated over £45 million in revenues, raised a combined £50 million in funding, and achieved record numbers for leadership diversity in 2023.

Of the 300 new jobs created, 200 of them were in the South West region. The sectors with the highest number of jobs created were fintech, healthtech and engineering.

Loqbox, a wellbeing business focused on financial health, created 17 new jobs. With a bigger team, it has achieved significant growth, helping 2 million people to date to access a richer life by building their credit scores and growing their savings.

Healthtech startup getUBetter created 12 new jobs to advance its digital self-management support platform for muscoskeletal injuries and women’s pelvic health. Its app is now used in over a third of NHS England.

University of Bristol spinout, Actuation Lab, created 10 new jobs. Last year, the R&D startup was awarded £3.5 million from the Department for Energy Security and Zero’s Net Zero to support development of its novel gas valve, designed to prevent gas leakage and enable the scaling of hydrogen as a clean energy source in the industrial and aerospace sectors.

Simon Bates, Actuation Lab’s CEO, said: “In 2022, our team worked incredibly hard to secure development contracts, grants and investment to develop key components for the hydrogen supply chain. When they came to fruition, we needed to rapidly expand our team in 2023. Having a strong connection to SETsquared and the University of Bristol has helped us find a group of incredibly motivated team members from operations to engineering.”