Participants from this year’s Digital Jersey Tech Start Up Bootcamp gave their final pitches to a packed audience of investors and digital peers last week, as the second year of the successful programme came to a close.
Held at the Digital Jersey Hub on 16th May, the event was attended by an audience of more than 100 people, including investors, digital entrepreneurs and representatives from programme collaborators PwC, KYC360 and TEKEX.
At the event, the Bootcampers were given a platform to showcase their cutting-edge business ideas – which ranged from digital coaching, talent management and caretech to blockchain education, KYC and a digital guide to Jersey – with the audience then given a chance to vote for the best pitch and most investable business.
Colm Farrington, founder of ‘ROC – What’s #OnTheROC’, a super app that aims to bring together the very best of Jersey in one place, received most support on the night and was ultimately selected as the winner. As his prize, Colm will be given a ticket to attend the major Slush tech start up and entrepreneur conference in Helsinki, Finland, later this year.
Over the course of the past twelve weeks, participants from the six businesses in this year’s Tech Start-up Bootcamp have benefitted from a comprehensive program designed to provide them with guidance, expert advice and support to enable them to develop, launch and scale their digital business ideas.
The Bootcampers this year were William Rayer, Rich Morgan, Kristin Morris, Ben Lewis, Callum Cunningham, Nathan de la Haye, and Colm Farrington.
Digital Jersey CEO Tony Moretta said: “It’s been fascinating to see our second Bootcamp unfold this year, giving some of Jersey’s brightest digital entrepreneurs a platform to hone their skills and turn their creativity into marketable, investor-ready businesses. Once again, our Bootcampers have clearly learned so much and seeing them give their final pitches to a packed audience at the Hub served as a reminder of our purpose at Digital Jersey – to give our local ambitious innovators the tools and expertise they need to thrive.
“I’d like to congratulate all our Bootcampers this year, in particular Colm for winning the confidence of our audience. What came across strongly this year was just how supportive our digital community is here in Jersey – and it was perhaps fitting that an app so firmly focused on the local community was the winner this year. I’d also like to thank our collaborators PwC, KYC360 and TEKEX as well as all the experts who have guided our Bootcampers throughout the program. It really has been a digital community effort.”
Colm Farrington, winning Bootcamper and founder of ROC, said: “The last 12 weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind but I’ve had a hugely valuable experience, and that’s thanks to the incredible support I’ve had from Digital Jersey, my mentors and the experts who have led the various workshops and discussion sessions. To get the backing of the audience at the event was fantastic, and I’m really excited now to be focusing on the next stage of the development of the ROC platform.”
Pictured: Colm Farrington giving his pitch at the event
