Oxford tech start-ups win national Tech Nation competition

Two tech start-ups from Oxford have been named alongside a further eight from across the UK in this year’s Tech Nation Rising Stars.

The competition final was the culmination of a nationwide search to find up-and-coming tech start-ups with the potential to scale their businesses and ultimately become the market leaders of tomorrow. Companies taking part in the competition have annual revenues up to £1.5m and have at least one active client or pilot.

Serelay, based at Harwell Campus, enables mobile device users to capture verifyable photos and videos, and platforms receiving these to query them for authenticity of content, time and location.

Vitaccess, based at the Oxford Centre for Innovation, is a platform that produces real-time data on how diseases and treatments impact patients’ everyday lives, based on tailor-made apps installed in their smartphones.

Each of the 10 chosen winners will receive a package of support worth over £4,000 that includes mentoring; introductions to potential partners and investors; a tailored public relations campaign and support from the programme sponsors.

Esme Caulfield, Competitions Lead at Tech Nation said: “We put together a package designed to provide tangible support to the winning businesses as they grow and make the transition from startups to scaleups, and tonight we saw some of the very best early-stage companies from all over the UK really embracing the challenge of the competition and rising to the occasion. All of the pitches were incredibly impressive. The judges had their work cut out to select the winners.”

Mike Jackson, Entrepreneur Success Director at Tech Nation said: “The format of the competition reflected one of the key challenges that early stage businesses face. All of the founders will have pitched their businesses before and will do so again to either investors or potential business partners. The key is to encapsulate the company’s story, its offer and its market potential, while at the same time inspiring the target listener – whether that is a competition judge, a VC or a corporate buyer. Honing a good pitch is often critical to success and that’s why we have included further pitch training in the prize package.”