The Silicon Gorge Investment Pitching competition is back and is an opportunity offered to Tech & Creative companies based in the South West of England and South Wales who are looking for up to £3 million in equity funding. It will offer 12 of these companies the chance to pitch to a virtual room full of investors and enablers of investment on 12th May 2022.

Applications to take part are open from Thursday 17th February until Tuesday 29th March. After an initial paper selection process you will know if you are successful in getting through to the competition stage by the 5th April.

The competition stage involves a pitching competition held in the week commencing 25th April for up to 24 companies, in order to select the final 10-12 who will make it through to the Showcase.

These 24 will also be offered additional marketing/ PR through TechSPARK and our partners, and the final 12 will be offered a pitching workshop to truly hone that pitch before the Showcase.

Apply to take part here

Any investors interested in attending the final event on 12th May should contact abby@techspark.co to join the invite list.

"Silicon Gorge was a great experience from start to finish, the pitching was enjoyable and feedback useful, the workshops were actually useful, and for founders who are really busy trying to raise it won't take up too much of your precious time."

Sam Bates, Amplify.link

The audience at Silicon Gorge consists of a mixture of VCs, Angels and Network leaders. At each event we have a small panel to help bring out any extra details from the pitchers, and previous panellists include Jean de Fougerolles, Managing Partner at Ascension Ventures, Charles Grimsdale, Angel and Founder at Eden Ventures, Lisa Matthews, Portfolio Manager at Jenson Funding Partners, Simon Murdoch, Managing Partner at Episode 1, and Triin Linamagi, Co-Founder at Sie Ventures.

Alumni of Silicon Gorge include Immersive Labs and Martin Bysh from Huboo, who have raised £68m and £60m in 2021 alone, plus many others who have raised millions since they pitched: Lettus Grow, KETS Quantum Security, Yellowdog, TravelLocal, Virti, Neighbourly to name just a few.

See a roundup of the most recent Silicon Gorge here.

Timeline

17th February – Applications are open

29th March 6pm – Applications close

5th April – Applicants will be notified if they have made it into the competition stages

26th & 27th April – A choice of 2 dates for Pitching competitions

12th May – Silicon Gorge Investor Showcase 2022: Spring Edition

“The IAP has provided us with a fantastic platform to network and raise our profile in the investor community”

Helen, Data3

How to prepare for Silicon Gorge Investment Pitching competition

What do you need to get ready to submit your application to Silicon Gorge 2022? It’s not charts and pitch decks, we just want you to tell us about yourselves. We’ll just need :-

  • Your name, company and email – we’ll assume you already have these!
  • A summary of what your company/product does – Maximum 200 words
  • What problem you are solving – Maximum 100 words
  • Why you/your product are unique – Maximum 100 words
  • What stage you are at?
  • How big’s the market?
  • Who are you selling to?
  • How much you’re looking to raise?
  • Are you an incubator or accelerator member– and which one?
  • What is your current annual turnover, if revenue generating?
  • Lastly, of course, what are you going to use investment for?