The technology accelerator Ignite is in Edinburgh this week meeting companies that have been taking part in its six-month mentoring programme.
Since 2011 Ignite has become one of the most active and successful early stage investors in the UK — delivering 14 accelerators, investing in more than 100 startups, and running programmes across Manchester, Newcastle and London.
Improving the accelerator model
Aiming to improve on the old accelerator model, the Ignite Team has since then introduced Ignite 2.0. The new model supports founders across the UK, with a focus on growth and building sustainable businesses.
The programme features 6 months’ mentoring and support, £25,000 investment and access to a network of founders and investors around the UK. Acting somewhat like a remote Non-Executive Director, the Ignite Team helps the start-up scale their business without having to relocate.
Ignite works with startups remotely for three weeks of every month, delivering the Startup MBA course digitally alongside the programme mentors and partners. During the fourth week of every month everyone comes together to a in-person offsite in different cities around the UK, this time meeting in Edinburgh.
The offsites are packed with useful sessions, mentoring and events to connect portfolio companies, new investments and applicants.
Since launching Ignite 2.0 in April 2017, the team has already been in Newcastle, London, Manchester and Portsmouth and are coming to Edinburgh on the 27th and 28th of September.
Gabi Matic, programme manager at Ignite, said: “Once a month we bring all our startups together for an offsite in a different UK city for two days. There they get the chance to dig in on specific topics in 1-1 mentoring and group workshops, share learning, and meet with other teams. They leave with actionable advice to implement immediately.”
“The offsite is the last stage This month’s offsite is in Edinburgh this week. We will cover topics like Analytics for Startups, building a great founding team, PR for startups and will have a fireside chat with Matt Lanham from Geckolabs who will share his journey. Other than Matt we have inspiring mentors like Cally Russell (Mallzee), Colin Hewitt (Floatapp), Martin Lind (Senient), Jon Bradford and Christian Arno (Lingo24) (among others) joining us for the afternoons.”