Collider12, an accelerator programme supporting early stage businesses developing new technologies to help brands engage with consumers has been launched by Creative England, Ingenious Media and Pembridge.
Creative England has backed the programme with £500,000 in loan capital secured from the Regional Growth Fund, and the businesses involved have also vowed to match this with £500,000 in equity investment raised from private funding.
As the lines between technology and marketing become increasingly blurred with new innovations constantly changing the face of marketing investment in technology is vital for the UK to remain market leaders.
Collider12 is open to creative and technology companies based in England, it aims to take ten companies through an intense programme working with brands, coaches and mentors so they can create financial returns and jobs. The aim of the programme is to help early stage companies develop faster and create value quicker than they would be able to unaided.
“Programmes such as Collider12 give small business the chance to exploit new opportunities in the creative and technology sectors,” commented Michael Fallon, business and enterprise minister. “This will help business link with experienced leaders to help them grow, create jobs and unlock private sector investment for the UK economy.”
Pembridge and Ingenious Media have both invested into the programme, and Pembridge are set to provide mentoring and support to those accepted. Taylor Wessing LLP, Kingston Smith LLP and Jargon PR are advisers to the project and will be participating as mentors in law, finance and marketing.
The ten high profile brands will also commit to supporting the Collider12 programme with unique access for businesses to help shape their product development. The idea behind Collider12 is to create an opportunity for both parties, minimising time wasting, and offering all parties immediate access to a focussed entrepreneurial environment.
Jim Farmery, Creative England’s director of business development, said Collider12 has the “potential to tick very important boxes for Creative England as it could open doors for new partnerships, products and ideas.” He continued: “. For the corporates, the injection of new blood and new ideas can reap many advantages, whilst new businesses could also benefit massively from both access to key companies and mentoring from highly-experienced business leaders”.
CEO of Ingenious Media, Patrick Bradley, added: “As a leading venture capital investor in the media space we know how difficult it is for companies starting out to attract capital and establish communication with major brands.
“We therefore fully support this programme, which offers mentoring support, capital and brand interaction to young companies. We look forward to meeting and working with these exciting new businesses.”
To apply, businesses should visit http://collider12.com/apply and fill in an application between Thursday 11 October and Friday 2 November. Offers will be made to successful applicants by Wednesday 14 November with the programme beginning on Monday 7 January 2013 with the ‘Collision Phase’.