Digital Greenhouse has announced the success of its first Startup Academy programme.
Aimed at founders looking to scale quickly and bring innovation to existing markets, this has been an intensive 10 weeks. The final presentation evening brought the first cohort to a close and since then, five of the seven businesses on the cohort have also been shortlisted for the Guernsey Venture Challenge summer accelerator programme.
Joanna Corder, Startup Academy participant and Founder of Petlearnia commented: “The Startup Academy was great. At the beginning I only had a business idea – by the end, I was preparing my paid pilot, having gone through several planning and prototype stages under the guidance of Blenheim Chalcot’s Red Team. My paid pilot is launching this autumn, so having further expert business advice in the run up to it is going to be so useful! My business and I have grown so much in the last few weeks, I can’t really imagine where we’ll be at the end of the Guernsey Venture Challenge – but I’m excited to see!”
The Academy immersed new businesses in Guernsey in a 10 week accelerated programme, providing expert knowledge and mentorship designed to give them the skills they need to go from idea to market. With expertise provided by the Digital Greenhouse’s venture-building partners, Blenheim Chalcot, this opportunity has been powered by the SMART Guernsey Economic Development programme. All businesses are leveraging tech to grow and the ventures span FinTech, HealthTech, EventTech, and TravelTech, showing exciting potential future growth within their sectors on the island.
Startup Academy participant Louis Jooste, Founder of Cloud Wealth said: “The Startup Academy provided our business with a great platform to launch our business. Not only was the sessions insightful, it also helped us view the business from multiple angles and plan appropriately. I highly recommend it, even to a serial entrepreneur.”
Described by participants as a ‘mini MBA’ for startups, plans are already being developed to run another academy early in 2024.
Director of the Digital Greenhouse, Lucy Ann Kirby is pleased with the outcome: “We are thrilled to see such promising businesses emerge from the academy and make their mark in the local startup ecosystem. These businesses have the potential to create impact, disrupt their chosen markets and they are definitely ones to watch for the future!”
Further information about the Startup Academy and future cohorts can be found here.
Pictured: Left to right – Lucy Kirby, Louis Jooste, Sonia Mills Vincent De Vera & Tim Rowe, Matthias Plunser, Dave Wratten & Ben Wratten, Andre Duquemin, Joanna Corder, Jenny De La Mare.
