Venturefest Yorkshire 2010 will be held on Wednesday 10th of February. For more information about the event, visit the Venturefest Yorkshire Website.

Venturefest 2009, held at York Racecourse

Wednesday 11th February saw nine innovative technology companies do battle for the £26 500K first prize in the Investment Competition at Venturefest Yorkshire organised by Connect Yorkshire in association with YABA (the Yorkshire Association of Business Angels).

 Those that threw their hat into the ring included;

Carbon Reduction Technology Ltd designed the iLamp, which offers a minimum of 60% reduction in energy consumption against the equivalent HPS light. Click here to listen to their pitch

Globalbagtag.com devised a tag which has a unique serial number and is permanently affixed to the luggage. This tracking device enables lost luggage to be located and retuned to the owner. Click here to listen to their pitch

Postdox Ltd, a firm that enables companies of all sizes to receive invoices electronically. Click here to listen to their pitch

EvolveOurSite.com aim is to assist websites in adding value to their online services via the community that uses it. A visual comment and suggestion feedback service will empower customers to see exactly what their customers/users are thinking. Click here to listen to their pitch

Qolleja Ltd, focused on providing purposeful information discovery and knowledge management software solutions as a service (SaaS) to knowledge industries. Click here to listen to their pitch

Retrogenix Ltd is a biotechnology company developing specialist cell microarray technology. Aiming to produce virtually every human protein on our arrays, our primary focus is to use this technology for the purpose of determining the mechanism of action of pharmaceutical drugs, based on their protein interaction fingerprints. Click here to listen to their pitch

Slipstream Energy develops vertical-axis wind turbines optimised for the urban environment. The company focuses on meeting the needs of businesses who wish to reduce carbon emissions and make a bold environmental statement by producing clean electricity at the point of use. Click here to listen to their pitch

Xvista biometrics have produced a low cost iris biometrics system for the consumer market. Visuguard is an iris biometrics package that includes a free webcam.Click here to listen to their pitch

This years investment competition winner Music Code Ltd, director Roo Pigott presented his innovative solution to a panel of judges chaired by Peter Day, the BBC Radio 4 presenter.  The two runners up in the competition included Carbon Reduction Technology Ltd and Globalbagtag.com.Click here to listen to their pitch

Music Code Ltd. Director Roo Pigott  commented; ‘’Thank you and the team at Connect Yorkshire for giving me the opportunity to showcase MusiCode and to pitch to the judges and investors. 

Within a day of winning I’ve been approached by 5 separate investors looking to potentially invest into the company.  The prize from the competition is going to really allow us to get the company into the perfect shape for investment.

The support and mentoring provided by Connect Yorkshire then allowed me to apply that focus and turn it into a solid business plan and pitch, which in turn has paid huge dividends.”

FoodSpecifications.com was awarded the top prize last year in 2008.  This year they attended Venturefest to speak at the Breakfast Networking event, where he discussed his journey he has taken and how the prize offered by Venturefest Yorkshire has helped his business become even more successful.

If you didn't attend Venturefest or missed the Investment Competition and would like to find about more the companies, you can find many of the finalists on MyDealMaker. 

For more information about the event, visit the Venturefest Yorkshire Website.

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