Rising Stars
Take your startup to the next level
Will your startup be the next Rising Star?
Rising Stars is the UK’s newest and most exciting competition for innovative, early-stage tech startups, with a prize package designed to send your business into the stratosphere.
This is your opportunity to connect your startup with mentors, investors and influencers, and significantly raise the profile of your business.
APPLICATIONS NOW CLOSED.
The prizes…
Opportunities to raise your profile at all stages of the competition.
For the winners:
Tailored/bespoke package of support worth over £4000 per winner that includes:
- 1-2-1 mentoring with a high profile mentor
- Facilitated introductions to investors and corporates
- Bespoke PR campaign
- One-to-one BDODrive Accelerate session focused on unlocking your growth potential and identifying the tangible steps you need to take
- Financial contribution towards a conference of your choice
- Pitch training and coaching
- Networking opportunities with investors, heads of accelerators, entrepreneurs and corporate leaders
When you apply:
- Submit an (optional) video pitch with your application and you could be selected for our ‘Pitch of the Day’ and be posted to our 85,000 Twitter followers
If you get shortlisted:
- Profiled as a top startup in your region
- Invited to our Semi-Final where you will receive pitch training from Sunderland Software City, meet previous winners and have the opportunity to network other awesome founders and our panel of judges
- Invited to our Grand Final in London to exhibit and network with a high profile audience of investors, corporate leader and entrepreneurs
If you're selected to pitch at our Grand Final:
- Pitch in front of a high profile audience
- Opportunity to exhibit to over 400 attendees in London
The semi-finalists
Our judging panel
We’re on a mission to find the UK’s brightest tech startups, but we can’t do it alone. That’s why we’ve brought on board a leading judging panel to help us identify those burning brightest.
Andrew Jennings, Partner, TLT Solicitors 
Briony Phillips, Associate Director, Engine Shed 
Calum Forsyth, CEO and Founder, Seedhaus 
Daniel Reilly, Chapter Director, Startup Grind 
David Fogel, Co-founder, ADV 
Deborah Okenla, Founder, YSYS 
Derek Shaw, Head of Investment Management, Scottish Investment Bank 
Ed Prior, Investment Banking Associate, GP Bullhound 
Elaine McKechnie, Business Development Director, Oxford Innovation 
Etienne Piciocchi, Management Consultant 
Guarav Bhatnagar, Head of Amazon Marketing Services UK 
Helen Milburn, Director of Tech Law, EY 
James Parton, Managing Director, The Bradfield Centre 
Liz Scott, Director, Finance, Tax and Innovation, EY 
Louize Clarke, Director, ConnectTVT 
Magda Posluszny, Associate, Seedrs 
Mark Lyons, Investment Director, Praetura 
Mark Sykes, National Head, BDO Drive 
Naomi TImperley, Co-founder, Tech North Advocates 
Rachel Peacock, Tech Specialist, Economic Development 
Richard Charnley, Investment Manager, Northstar Ventures 
Richard Godfrey, CEO, Rocketmakers 
Sarah Reveillard, EMEA SMB Lifecycle Marketing Manager, Microsoft Bing 
Tim Key, Director Technology and Media, KPMG 
Tristan Watson, CEO, Ignite 
Volker Hirsch, Partner, Amadeus Captial
The programme
We’ll provide all semi finalists with pitch training and expert advice. The judges will select the best startups for the Grand Final.
All finalists will pitch to become one of our Rising Stars. Our semi-finalists will have the opportunity to exhibit at the event.
Are you eligible to enter Rising Stars?
From Cornwall to Inverness, we’re looking for the UK’s most ambitious tech startups to join Tech Nation’s first ever Rising Stars cohort. Does your business meet the criteria?
- Your business has been going for 1-3 years
- Its HQ is in the UK
- A digital tech business with a product or service to sell
- You’re at seed to pre-Series A funding stage. Bootstrapped? We’re looking for businesses with annual revenues up to £1.5m
- You have at least one active client or pilot
- You can commit to Rising Stars dates outlined in the timeline
- Last but not least, you’ve got the ambition to grow and scale
Please note, Rising Stars is not open to consultancies or agencies.
What makes a great application?
We are asking you to provide information about:
- Company founders, company vision, your product or service
- Financial information including investment, revenue and growth
- Employees and your Board
- Business metrics you measure your success by
- Your development – i.e. have you been through an accelerator
You also have opportunity to submit a short (2 minute max) video pitch as part of your application. If you've never made a video pitch before, check out our handy guide here. Video pitches are optional but if you choose to do so, they don't need to be highly produced – they can be filmed on your phone!
Application Judging
Applications will be scored by our panel of judges on the following criteria:
Value Proposition
Have you communicated the problem you solve effectively? What impact does your solution have – does it answer a clear need?
Competitive Advantage
What is your USP? Who are your competitors and how will you stay competitive?
Current Traction
What progress have you made in the last 12 months? How do you measure your success?
Scaling
How do you plan to scale? What is your ambition?
Applications now closed.
Shortlisting will take place between 18 November – 3 December. We will contact you by 4 December to let you know whether you have been shortlisted to go to the semi-final.
Unfortunately we cannot provide individual feedback on applications.
What our former winners have to say
In its former life, Rising Stars was a competition run by Tech North (known then as Northern Stars). 30 fantastic tech companies were successfully crowned as Northern Stars winners over the three years the competition ran.
Watch how Northern Stars gave former winners Dream Agility and Peak exposure on a global stage and enabled both companies to achieve unrivalled growth.
Dream Agility
Peak
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