News / Tech
Singing inventor of noise-cancelling glass wins pitch battle
It was an evening of celebration, networking and competition as eight tech startups battled it out for a share of investment and mentorship to propel their tech business model to the next level. But there was a clear winner – a singing pitch.
Organised by SETsquared, University of Bristol-affiliated tech incubator, Tech Xpo returned for another year at its usual hosting venue at Goldney House in Clifton on Wednesday, September 25 celebrating the excellence of the Bristol tech scene featuring an array of new tech firms.
This year’s TechXpo event also marked the two-decade legacy of SETsquared as an incubator where a thriving ecosystem of inventors, innovators, entrepreneurs and mentors are at work.
With the breakneck pace of the tech sector, twenty years seems a long time. And it is. For context, SETsquared has been in operation before the advent of social media, YouTube and needless to say, AI and machine learning.
Tech Xpo provided an opportunity for tech startups to network with investors, mentors and public – photo: Milan Perera
Before the pitching competition, the attendees had the opportunity to walk among the stalls of several startups to hear what’s on offer from the developers themselves.
“The pitching tent” was a short introduction about the firm and the product where the attendees then cast their votes to decide the winning pitch of the evening.
“MyCopilot is your buddy for better habits; when a phone distracts you and destroys your regulations, you’re just scrolling on Tiktok for hours,” said Alastair Brayne, founder of MyCopilot – photo: Milan Perera
The eight companies featured at the accelerator pitch were Amutri, Mapstack, Metasonixx, MyCopilot.AI, Platipus, Taught by Humans, APS and Wavesix.
Each startup attempts to address a specific problem head on. For example, much has been written about the ills of “dead scrolling” and phone addiction. What if there is a holistic fix? Meet MyCopilot.AI.
Speaking to Bristol24/7, the founder Alastair Brayne said: “MyCopilot is your buddy for better habits. So when a phone distracts you and destroys your regulations, you’re just scrolling on Tiktok for hours. The best thing that you can have in your life is a friend or a partner interrupting to remind you of the things you really need and want to do.
“But at 2am who’s gonna do that if you’re home alone on a Wednesday evening? MyCopilot does exactly that. It steps in when you get lost on your phone.”
Tech Xpo returned for another year to the grounds of Goldney House in Clifton – photo: Milan Perera
Another pitch which made a compelling presentation was Wavesix, the fitness tracker. Why another fitness tracker? For the founder Julia Marshall-Wessendorf it was not “just business but a personal journey” after beating multiple sclerosis. She said: “Wavesix allows you to track more holistically, so you can track your sleep and nutrition, movement, relaxation and relationships.
“There are loads of amazing trackers out there, but they’re all very, very niche. So if you want to find out all the correlations between different data points in your life and different aspects, you will find our app helpful.”
For Julia Marshall-Wessendorf the founding of Wavesix, the fitness tracker, was “more than business but a personal journey” after beating multiple sclerosis – photo: Milan Perera
The event featured not only seasoned campaigners but also upcoming talents in the sector such as Laura Gemmell who recently finished her PhD from the University of Bristol and had her first byline as a tech journalist. Gemmell is the technical founder of platform Taught by Humans where it helps employers have data confidence they need to upgrade their skills.
Laura Gemmell (left) who recently finished her PhD from the University of Bristol founded Taught by Humans, a platform to boost data confidence of employees – photo: Milan Perera
Another startup who delivered a passionate pitch for the vote of confidence was Amutri who won a Innovate UK Small Grant to advance its 3D visualisation application.
Michael Calver, chief executive for the firm, said: “It helps you understand what a design looks like. It brings product design data to life. It enables, I guess, non technical experts and non engineers to see and experience and feel what a design looks like without having to understand how CAD software works.”
Amutri, led by Michael Calver won a Innovate UK Small Grant to advance its 3D visualisation application – photo: Milan Perera
Despite the compelling pitches from all participants, it might be a tall ask to top an Italian tenor who incorporated a rendition of Imagine by John Lennon into his pitch.
The academic turned inventor and entrepreneur Gianluca Memoli was crowned the winner of Tech Xpo elevator pitch. The firm he co-founded – Matasonixx sprang from a personal experience of attempting to work around his children.
Metasonixx has developed both opaque and fully transparent material to cancel sound. Although the material is sound proof, it allows light and smell to travel, allowing open office spaces to be engaging even when fully focused.
The sound-cancelling glass-like material, developed by Metasonixx was the winning pitch at Tech Xpo 2024 – photo: Milan Perera
Speaking to Bristol24/7, Memoli said: “ It was really unexpected. I decided at the last minute to sing my pitch, because the quality of the pitches was so high that I decided I really want to have fun and well, yeah, apparently I was not the only one.
“I think the other thing is, for me and for my team, this is a recognition of all the work that we are doing, and that is so important for a startup. If you are in a startup, you just stay there fighting every day to make it happen, and that’s what we want to do.
“We want to change the place where people spend most of the time, which is the office, and I’m talking about the hybrid office, because noise is true in open offices, but there is also noise at home, like in the days where my kids were around. I mount one of my panels to make sure that I can have a zoom call with the others.”
Gianluca Memoli, an academic turned inventor making the winning pitch with a rendition of ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon – photo: Milan Perera
The evening also included addresses from Rick Chapman, entrepreneur in residence and Nick Sturge, former centre director and Monika Radclyffe, former head of business incubation and growth at the incubator.
Rick Chapman who has been involved with SETsquared for 12 years initially joined it to “help out couple of Wednesdays” but has become a mainstay at the incubator.
Speaking to Bristol24/7, Chapman said: “Tech Xpo is an exhibition of the current SETsquared members, some alumni as well, and also an opportunity for them to meet the wider community, be that potential partners, recruits, investors, ecosystem players that can enhance their business.
“So it’s a combination of a little bit of an exhibition, but also a true networking event, where we’re trying to make solid business connections that could be useful for them. And then the other thing that we put in the middle of that is an elevator pitching competition, a little bit for fun. It’s bit like Dragon’s Den. But I’d like to think it’s a little bit more friendly, a little bit more real world.”
“Tech Xpo is an exhibition of the current SETsquared members to meet the wider community, be that potential partners, recruits, investors, ecosystem players,” said Rick Chapman, entrepreneur in residence – photo: Milan Perera
VWV, lawyer in residence at SETsquared was the main sponsor for the event alongside Future Finance and Burges Salmon as support sponsors.
All photos: Milan Perera
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