From tackling children’s smartphone addiction to AI-integrated digital humans, Baltic Ventures’ latest demo day didn’t disappoint.
The 10 businesses in this year’s accelerator pitched to more than 300 people – made up largely of investors, media and members of the tech ecosystem – at Liverpool’s Camp and Furnace building.
A total of four female and six male tech founders and CEOs gave a three-minute presentation in what they hope will be the latest step in achieving fabled unicorn status.
1. SoSquared
Founders: Sam Royle & Greg Donnelly
Description: Influencer marketing
Investment: £320,000 to date, currently raising £1.5m
The pitch: Dressed all in black, Sam Royle had the tough job of giving the first pitch and gave a confident display.
Royle describes SoSquared as helping ‘businesses turn noise into measurable results’ and is tipped for success.
There was an element of the Steve Jobs when Royle shared his vision to create ‘a world where every marketing dollar isn’t just seen, it’s understood’.
In 2024 SoSquared reported a $750,000 turnover, mainly through its consultancy work, but is committed to building its platform.
The startup has a ‘clear, sustainable path to profitability’ and is blessed with a good team.
2. BlackGoblin
Founders: Ana Betancourt
Description: Sound design and technology company
Investment: £100,000 grant and £40,000 angel investment to date, currently raising £350,000.
The pitch: It was refreshing to see so many female founders – the first of which was CEO Ana Betancourt.
She opened her presentation with the noise of the iconic lightsaber noise to illusrate the hundreds of hours it takes to create film sounds.
“On average, it takes around 450 hours to do the sound for a 90-minute film,” she said. “Around 250 of those hours are basically wasted on repetitive tasks.”
Her Edinburgh-based sound design and technology company is currently developing Thol, an AI-powered design suite to generate tailored effects for sound, to combat this problem.
Ana Betancourt, CEO, BlackGoblin
Thol is said to help media creators by reducing costs by up to 75 per cent, eliminating time consuming processes and allowing for audio to be customised and high-quality.
BlackGoblin is relatively early-stage but there’s clearly a need – evidenced by its work with the BBC.
3. MyOpNotes
Founders: Rajen Nagar, Martin Wooley
Description: HealthTech that improves post-surgical documentation
Investment: £115,000 grant and £140,000 angel investment to date, currently raising £800,000.
The pitch: MyOpNotes acts as a ‘documentation assistant’, ensuring surgeons consistently record key details required for accurate clinical coding.
The business allows clinicians and surgeons to connect directly to their system and guides them through the process.
This is said to reduce the amount of typed op notes, and therefore the likeliness of human error through misreading or spelling mistakes.
Martin Wooley, MyOpNotes
Founder Martin Wooley said: “Coding errors are an $89bn problem worldwide and a £2bn one in the UK.” MyOpNotes are looking to change that.
The company’s co-founder Grant Nolan recently posted on LinkedIn that he left MyOpNotes after two-and-a-half years.
4. BeGenio
Founders: Dr Grace Olugbodi & Sandesh Shetty
Description: EdTech meets gaming
Investment: Looking to raise £500,000.
The pitch: “One in three children suffer from maths anxiety,” said Dr Grace Olugbodi, BeGenio CEO and co-founder.
Dr Grace Olugbodi, CEO, BeGenio
Therefore, she has created BeGenio, a game-based learning platform which helps children learn maths in a more entertaining way.
This was inspired after Olugbodi’s father ‘tricked’ her into ‘learning maths whilst playing’.
The business is relatively early stage but has already gained traction.
Olugbodi concluded her pitch by saying: “Join us in tricking children to enjoy maths.”
5. Sum Vivas
Founders: Rob Sims & Denise Harris
Description: AI
Investment: Raised £30,000 but looking raise another £400k
The pitch: Founders Rob Sims and Denise Harris have more than 50 years’ business experience between them.
Rob Sims, CEO, Sum Vivas
Sims sold his previous business – Leeds-based Nexus Telecommunications – before becoming CEO of Chorley-based Elite Group.
Liverpool-based Sum Vivas creates AI-integrated digital humans that enhance customer experiences in the real world.
With the company hotly-tipped for a big future, Sims said: “The market for digital humans is set to explode.”
The Liverpool startup has already partnered with retail and leisure complex, Liverpool One, and is in discussions with several other related sites in the area.
6. Dearbump
Founders: Emma Abbasi
Description: FemTech
Investment: £195,000 (mix of grants and angel investment). Raising £600,000
The pitch: Liverpool-based FemTech Dearbump describes itself as a ‘digital midwife’ that supports parents in their pregnancy journey.
Founder Emma Abbasi spoke about her experience of pregnancy, saying: “What was meant to be one of the happiest times of my life turned into one of the most difficult.”
To counteract these worries, Dearbump has developed an app where females can track their health throughout their pregnancy and connect with trusted healthcare professionals.
Abbasi recently started a movement which forced Innovate UK into a screeching funding U-turn.
Emma Abbasi, founder, Dearbump
7. AppLatch
Founders: Samson Opaleye & Aliyu Odumosu
Description: EdTech – where parental control meets education
Investment: £80,000 to date, currently raising £250,000.
It’s no wonder Samson Opaleye was dressed in a slick leather jacket for his pitch.
The energetic CEO and co-founder launched Sheffield-based startup Applatch just six months ago and the platform already has over 9,000 active users.
The company’s products are designed to curb smartphone addiction for children by giving them a goal to gain access to their devices.
Children can solve quizzes to unlock 15-60 minutes of ‘fun screen time’ for a maximum of three hours per day.
Samson Opaleye, CEO, Applatch
8. Decently
Founders: James Burch & James Chapman
Description: Healthcare
Investment: : £590,000 to date, currently raising £1m.
The pitch: Wearing a stylish logger shirt, James Burch gave a confident pitch, which started with a touching story about his co-founder’s friend.
He and James Chapman set up Decently in 2021 after a close friend of Chapman’s suffered a brain-related injury.
The healthcare business has developed web-based AI platform Melo, which allows teams to make more evidence-based care decisions through data collection.
The long-term goal is to support 10m patients, clinicians and families over the next 10 years.
9. GoPlugable
Founders: Meabh Reynolds & Andrine Mendez
Description: EV charging
Investment: £30,000 to date, currently raising £350,000.
The pitch: Belfast-based GoPlugable is a national app network enabling drivers to share and rent EV charging stations.
CEO and co-founder, Maebh Reynolds, explained that the idea was born when her co-founder was denied permission to install a charger for his electric vehicle.
She went on to explain that the company’s aim is to ‘bridge the gap in EV infrastructure by using already existing, underutilised infrastructure’.
Dubbed the ‘Airbnb for EV charging’ the business is on an ambitious mission to become the world’s largest EV charging network.
10. EdenFiftyOne
Founder: Tom Reynolds
Description: EdTech
Investment: £100,000 in grants and £42,500 angel investment to date, currently raising £300,000.
The pitch: EdenFiftyOne CEO and founder Tom Reynolds was the last to pitch – and he was the only founder spotted wearing his brand’s merchandise.
Tom Reynolds, founder, EdenFiftyOne
The former teacher resigned from his post to launch his platform, which promotes 51 skills at the core of English education and provides a standardised system for its teaching and learning.
He did this after finding that there are only 51 universal skills at the core of English education.
He used this analogy: “When a Grade 1 student sits down at the piano, the piano has 88 keys. When a Grade 8 student sits down at the piano, the piano still has 88 keys. The piano doesn’t get any wider.
“English is exactly the same. There are 51 keys on the English piano. The sheet music simply gets harder and harder to play.”