Welcome to my weekly South West Tech News roundup, where you can get all the headlines from the past week in one place.
What has our busy tech and digital community been up to this week? From award wins and innovative breakthroughs to unmissable events and capital raised, take a moment to reflect on the hive of daily activity taking place in our region.
If you have a story to share, wizz it over to shona@techspark.co – I look forward to hearing from you!
NatWest Growth Tracker South West finds the strongest upturn in demand in over two years
Local firms welcomed the strongest upturn in new orders since early-2022 with renewed job creation and a marked expansion in output. Moreover, business confidence improved to its highest level in nearly three years. Price trends were mixed as a softer rise in input costs compared with the fastest increase in selling prices for a year.
Rising from 53.9 in June to 54.7 in July, the headline South West Business Activity Index – a seasonally adjusted index that measures the month-on-month change in the combined output of the region’s manufacturing and service sectors – showed a marked rate of expansion that was the quickest since May 2022. Firms attributed growth to new business gains and demand resilience, as well as the release of pending projects and budget approvals at clients.
Solar power for new Bedminster office building thanks to Mayor grant
An office block in Bedminster has turned its roof into a “renewable power station” by installing money-saving, carbon-cutting solar panels thanks to funding from Dan Norris’s West of England Mayoral Authority.
Developments Bristol, a Victoria Grove-based housing, development and property investment firm, received a £15,000 Mayoral green grant with Bedminster based Solar Sun and Air designing, and the installing a 40 “kWp” on-roof solar system.
They’ve installed dozens of solar panels on the new office building which they’ve refurbished now home to 30 local firms – including Billys Bikes, who operate a growing bike repair and sales workshop, and Hi Vibe Yoga who operate a new state-of-the art Yoga studio – cutting the building’s energy usage by 50%, and annual bills by £14,000-plus.
Norland Capital invests in Dancerace
Dancerace, a leading provider of software systems for global banks and business lenders, today announced a significant new investment from Norland Capital, a software and technology-focused investment firm based in San Francisco, Boston, Sydney and London. International investment banking firm Alantra advised Dancerace and its majority owner, Newable Capital, on the transaction.
Based in Bath, UK, and Sydney, Australia, Dancerace offers a complete, connected software OS for banks and lenders providing invoice finance and ABL products. Today, 70+ banks and lenders across Europe, APAC and Africa depend on Dancerace to deliver loan, invoice discounting, factoring, SIF and trade, construction, recruitment and transaction finance facilities from its intuitive, award-winning software platform.
“Norland’s focus on partnering with entrepreneurs, long-term investment horizon, 25+ years of investing in and supporting technology companies and – most importantly – cultural fit made Norland the perfect partner for our next chapter,” says Elliot Avison, CEO of Dancerace.
University of Bath ‘Readcycle Bath’ scheme expands to donate management and engineering textbooks to Kenya
Readcycle Bath, the University of Bath initiative with the mission to ‘inspire reading, studying and sharing books for the global good’ by sending surplus management and engineering textbooks to universities in Nigeria, has been widened to include Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya.
Dr Teslim Bukoye, Associate Professor in the School of Management and the driving force behind the project, said he was delighted to have been able to help students at Moi University with the book donations and that he hoped the project would be able to expand further.
“Kenya is a significant step but we would like to grow this project to encompass other countries in Africa, Asia, Caribbean and the Middle East – we are currently seeking more funding and support,” says Dr Bukoye, who is also the University of Bath’s Director of International Exchanges.
Apply now for the next cohort of START
Available for those in the West of England Combined Authority region, the START programme is aimed for those who have an idea for a technology based business but would like to develop it further. It includes 28 hours of learning worth £1400 (totally free for you), that could lead to a coveted spot in a local business incubator/accelerator for 6 months.
Each cohort in the programme has a slightly different format and is held in different locations in the region to make it as accessible as possible for those who would like to attend. However, all will cover these key business fundamentals: the opportunity, the idea, the customer, the plan, the numbers.
Simply fill in this expression of interest form to apply and let us know a few details about yourself, your idea and which date you may be interested in – and we’ll get in touch with more details.
