The New Enterprise Competition drew to a close last week and the winner of the Growth stage was Kaedim, winning £10,000 and 12 months incubation at SETSquared.
Kaedim, launched in 2019 by Computer Science with Innovation students Konstantina Psoma and Roman Bromidge, is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) start-up which turns sketches into 3D models. Their degree based at the Centre of Innovation and Entrepreneurship alongside the help of the Basecamp Enterprise Team, allowed them to develop their idea, enhance their entrepreneurial skills and draw on a pool of expert industry mentors.
Below: The Basecamp Team (virtually, of course) announce the good news to Kaedim
Over the course of the year, the Basecamp Enterprise Team received over 100 applications to take part in the Ideas, Development and Growth stages of the competition. Winning the competition gives students, graduates and staff the opportunity to win prize money and unlock support packages to help develop and grow their start-up ideas- whether it be a business, charity or social enterprise!
Here’s what Kaedim had to say about winning this years’ top prizes:
“We are overjoyed and honoured to have won the New Enterprise Competition! It means we can put in place key measures to protect the IP we’ve created and gives us the breathing room to develop Kaedim into what we know it can become. We can now go forward with confidence during this summer without losing the momentum that we’ve built over the last year. ‘’
This year, as well as having to run the majority of the competition in an online format, the team have made some changes to the competition adding in layers of support to the final stage, enabling founders to feel more empowered and improve their business acumen. This included matching up each applicant with an experienced business mentor and providing them with access to SETsquared Bristol’s Advisers in Residence. Our runner up, Jenny from Ferryx had this to say:
“For me, the most valuable part of the New Enterprise Competition was being matched with the most incredible mentor. Her knowledge, expertise, guidance and support has blown me away. I’ve learned a phenomenal amount from this inspirational woman in such a short period of time. Furthermore, she’s opened doors which will help both me and my business to grow and develop in the future. I cannot thank her enough for everything that she’s done for me, she’s a brilliant mentor and one of the most genuinely lovely people I’ve ever met.”
The extra support has been instrumental in helping build the confidence, networks and business acumen of the applicants. It has also improved the gender diversity; this year 7 of the 10 businesses have women founders or co-founders compared to last year where there were no women finalists.
We’re very much looking forward to what all our applicants and finalists go on to accomplish. We wish them the greatest success! Take a look here at our fabulous final ten.
The Basecamp Enterprise team can help grow your start-up ideas, no matter how small. The New Enterprise Competition will be entering its 20th year this Autumn. Take a look at what’s involved and how you can apply here.