Seven rising star creative businesses graduate from UK creative accelerator

Here’s whay you need to know

Barclays’ ‘Eagle Lab Flight’ twelve-week accelerator took place in the bank’s Eagle Lab in Brighton and was led by Creative England. Each company received £25,000 investment at the start of the programme.

• Barclays and Creative England showcase accelerator finalists from their ‘Eagle Lab Flight’ accelerator
• Programme culminates in a pitch for a further £50,000 of funding in Brighton, powered by Creative England

The programme is culminating in a final pitch for all seven businesses- which include those harnessing virtual reality, mobile and GPS technologies – where they will bid for a potential £50,000 additional funding for their company in a room of local Business Angel Investors in Brighton on Tuesday 20 June. The event will also be live-streamed to Barclays Eagle Lab sites across the rest of the UK.

The seven rising star creative businesses graduating from ‘Eagle Lab Flight’ are:

• Good Company Wealth –  has launched a solution to the UK savings gap by harnessing the power of crowd buying to unlock access to high income producing assets.
• Goodmoney – has created new software to improve the way small independent and creative businesses are supported locally through the gift card and voucher market.
• Railguard – has designed a free and simple solution to help commuters to claim for compensation when affected by delayed or cancelled trains.
• Ikigai Factory – through its REVR mobile creation tool and publishing platform helps real estate agencies to build virtual house tours easily and quickly for improved sales and marketing. 
• TeamPro – is a free online platform allowing sports teams to organise matches and automatically show player availability.
• Vanuse – mobile app allows users to instantly order a van and driver to their location.
• We Are Personal – has revolutionised website modelling so that every visitor can have a completely different experience; personalising the site to their needs. 

The ‘Eagle Lab Flight’ accelerator, which started in March 2017, consisted of workshops, masterclasses and a mentor programme, aiming to unlock creativity for the seven businesses and provide business acumen. It covered topics such as business planning, sustainability, leadership, culture, global impacts and markets and audiences and evaluation. With a focus on creative thinking and cross collaboration, the companies learned how to scale-up and define their product, with input from industry thought leaders, Creative England and Barclays experts.

Steven Roberts, MD strategic transformation at Barclays said: “We have been proud to partner with Creative Englandto provide investment and intensive development for high growth, early stage creative and digital companieswith the vital help they need early on in their business lifecycle.

“Through the accelerator we’ve worked closely with seven brilliant businesses and their entrepreneurial teams, and we’re pleased to see them now graduate and provide a crucial boost to the UK’s creative sector.”