Start-ups in the Strathclyde community have staked their claims for funding in a competition hosted by the university’s flagship entrepreneurship programme

Six companies pitched their businesses to an audience of entrepreneurs, investors and experts to compete for a share of £27,500 prize funding in the bi-annual Strathclyde Inspire100 event.

The funding was made up of the Stephen Young Entrepreneurship Awards’ prize pot of £10,000 – for a start-up or spin-out business – and Santander Universities awarding £7,500 for a start-up business.

Alumnus Sir Tom Hunter attended the event and awarded an extra £10,000 of funding, allowing the judges to distribute the money between another two of the companies, with four companies awarded funding in total.

MyEmploy, an online employability tool, was awarded £10,000 from the Stephen Young Entrepreneurship Awards, while 4SB Mobility, which is developing a swappable electric vehicle battery, was awarded £7,500 from Santander.

Gifted Kind, a digital learning platform for children, and Carestax, a digital platform for carer health and wellbeing, were awarded £5,000 each from Hunter.

Joanna Butler, founder of MyEmploy, said: “I am delighted to have secured funding from the Stephen Young Entrepreneurship Awards – it will go towards the development of our AI-driven real time coaching for employability advisers, with the aim of supporting the profession to drive forward solutions that work for unemployed jobseekers.”

Other pitches in Inspire100 were made by Natquest, a supply chain technology service, and Light as a Feather, which makes storage tanks optimised for exceptional volumetric efficiency.

In September 2021, the university received a £50m donation from alumnus Dr Charles Huang from his philanthropic foundation. This transformational gift funds the Stephen Young Entrepreneurship Awards, the Stephen Young Global Leaders’ Scholarship Programme and the Stephen Young Institute, all launched in honour of Huang’s PhD mentor, professor Stephen Young.

Fiona Ireland, head of entrepreneurship strategy at Strathclyde, said: “The event was an excellent showcase of how our award-winning entrepreneurial campus is supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs.

“The financial support that our entrepreneurs received on the night, enabled by the generous support of the Charles Huang Foundation, Santander Universities and Sir Tom Hunter, will undoubtedly accelerate their progress.”

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