The 2023 Guernsey Venture Challenge concluded with shortlisted businesses pitching to win £70,000 in prizes for their startup and the winners have been announced.
The Digital Greenhouse’s Guernsey Venture Challenge saw 8 local businesses pitching for funding Thursday evening after an intensive 6-week accelerator programme where the seven shortlisted businesses worked with mentors from Blenheim Chalcot – they gathered for the Pitch Night Final on the 21st of September.
The shortlisted businesses Three Brain Training, Cloud Wealth, The Fund Society, WXplr, Stage Portal, c-sectionuk, KIWI and Petlearnia each pitched for the first prize of £40,000 and after questions and consideration from the judges, the third prize of £10,000 was awarded to Stage Portal, and Petlearnia and C-section UK were announced as joint winners of the first prize, being awarded £30,000 each.
Founder of Petlearnia, Joanna Corder said: “Coming joint 1st on the Pitch Night has really broadened my horizons. The funding will bring my business development forward by 6 months, which is an incredible hand-up at this early stage. It’s also really validating hearing the judges, all of whom are experienced business people, say that my idea and plan are good- it’s given me renewed energy and I’m already back at the laptop getting Petlearnia out to the world!”
Founder of C-section UK, Victoria Holyoak commented on her win: “Winning the Guernsey Venture Challenge has been so exciting and the whole process has been instrumental to the growth of our company. The Blenheim Chalcot mentorship and support from the Digital Greenhouse were fantastic and really helped both the company develop as well as myself as an entrepreneur and founder. We’re looking forward to the ongoing support from Blenheim Chalcot and Digital Greenhouse and we’re excited to head to London at the end of the month for our next pitch event.“
The shortlisted businesses will have the chance to present their pitches again to a range of investors at the Showcase Guernsey event at Scale Space in London in October and will be presented their prizes at The Véyaon Awards black tie event on the 16th of November 2023. More information about the event can be found here.
Pictured: Left to right – Charles Mindenhall (Judge), Jenny De La Mare, Marc Cohen (Judge), Ben Wratten Stage Portal co-founder, Victoria Holyoak Founder of C-section UK, Joanna Corder Founder of Petlearnia, Dave Wratten Stage Portal co-founder, Fiona Bateson (Judge), Fiona Bateson (Judge) and Lucy Kirby.
