Suffolk business support scheme opens doors to founders
Early-stage and growing businesses in Suffolk can now apply for free or discounted membership to a new innovation support programme, Innovation Labs Group has announced, as the Stowmarket-based organisation says its existing members have collectively raised £5 million in funding.
Why it matters: Innovation Labs Group says it is the most successful business and innovation support programme in Suffolk, and the new membership offer opens up its network of investment-readiness support and commercial introductions to more founders across the region.
The details: According to the organisation, members of Innovation Labs and the Future Tech Programme have collectively:
- Raised £5 million in investment
- Secured £4 million in commercial contracts introduced through the Innovation Labs network
- Received support for more than 1,000 businesses, 500 of them pro bono
- Brought more than 100 digital innovations to life
- Secured over 100 million impressions of PR coverage for early-stage businesses
- Contributed an estimated £37,500 a year to Stowmarket's high street – an estimated £260,000 over the past seven years.
Innovation Labs Group says these figures are cumulative across all its activity to date, including the Future Tech Programme.
What they're saying: Peter Basford, co-founder of Innovation Labs Group, said: "We set out to prove that world-class innovation doesn't only happen in London or Cambridge – it can happen here in Stowmarket. Helping our members raise £5 million and supporting more than 1,000 businesses, half of them pro bono, shows what a genuine community of innovators can achieve. We could not be prouder of our members, and we're only getting started."
Hermione Way, co-founder of Innovation Labs Group, added: "We've worked incredibly hard to put Stowmarket on the map as a focal point for innovation and entrepreneurship. From the coworking space to the investment-readiness support and the commercial introductions, everything we do is about giving founders here the same opportunities they'd find anywhere in the world. Stowmarket is gaining a reputation as the place where unicorns are born!"
For context: Innovation Labs Group says its success is down to four things: a network of active innovators with practising industry experience, a comprehensive investment-readiness programme, commercial deal introductions, and deep roots in the region's tech ecosystem.
Founders on the programme have fed back that it "played a key role in our investment readiness," that "guidance from experienced industry experts has been crucial," and that it "helped deliver the functionality necessary for commercialisation," according to the organisation.
The bigger picture: The Group was founded in 2019 by Peter Brady, Hermione Way and Peter Basford, and says it has helped establish Stowmarket as a focal point for innovation and entrepreneurship in the East of England. It has thanked Suffolk County Council, Connected Innovation and Barclays Eagle Labs for their support of the Future Tech Programme.
The bottom line: Innovation Labs Group is opening its doors to more Suffolk founders as it marks what it describes as a standout year, though the £5 million and £4 million figures cited are the organisation's own totals and have not been independently verified.
For more information on the new free or discounted membership, contact info@innovationlabsgroup.com.
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