Sheffield Technology Parks recently hosted a Cooper Showcase, giving five early-stage founders the opportunity to pitch their businesses to a panel of experts including exited founders, tech scale-up advisors, Sheffield’s Barclays Eagle Labs Ecosystem Manager and fellow Cooper Project founders.

Founders shared the progress they have made during their time on the Cooper Project, and the strength of the pitches reflected the increasingly high bar for businesses joining the programme.

“With the increased demand for the Cooper Project, we’ve raised the bar on what we expect from founders, so you guys have all done really well and shown such good progress through your time project so far” said Rose Tran, following the event.

The panel’s feedback also highlighted the quality and variety of the businesses emerging from the programme, spanning SaaS, gaming, app development, hospitality and sports technology. As Morgan Killick, Tech Scale Up Advisor from Business Sheffield, reflected: “Congratulations on what you’ve done with the Cooper Project – I’ve seen it mature over a number of years now, but it keeps getting better and better.”

Five founders with five very different stories to tell

Nicola Towse – Risqly
Nicola demonstrated how customer discovery has helped Risqly sharpen its proposition: an AI-powered SaaS platform helping subscription-based businesses identify customers at risk of churning. Research has helped the business narrow its focus towards fintech and validate the need for a solution that customer success teams can use without adding pressure to already-stretched development teams. The next step is refining the brand and pricing while converting partnerships into customers. Morgan Killick - who has worked with Risqly as a tech scale-up advisor - noted: “The business has been simplified and I really love how you speak about it now.”

James Battersby – Gritstone Games
James brought more than 16 years of games industry experience to Gritstone Games, a cross-platform studio developing games designed to create different experiences across multiple platforms. With his deep understanding of the gaming market and its publishers, James is now developing projects targeted at specific publishing opportunities. The Showcase highlighted the importance of putting his considerable industry experience front and centre when talking to potential investors and partners.

Andy Caine – Hyper Scale
Hyper Scale has undergone a significant pivot during the Cooper Project, moving from its original proposition to a studio helping non-technical founders build and scale apps. Its USP is combining rapid AI-assisted development with a strong focus on security, data protection and compliance – creating a ‘trust pack’ that can give customers and auditors confidence. With the rapidly evolving ‘vibe coding’ market presenting both opportunity and competition, Andy and his co-founder, Henry Addico, are now working through pricing and positioning as the business moves towards its target market.

James Coughlan – Settl
Settl is taking a second approach to a business tackling the changing world of remote work. Having evolved from its original booking-platform proposition, the business now combines workspace booking with community and gamification, aiming to address both the practical and social challenges faced by remote workers. James is initially focusing on B2B customers, encouraging employers to roll out the app for remote workforces as it moves from pre-revenue towards scale.

Funbi Ogunfuwa – Ballbridge Technologies
With experience in the football industry and as a sports lawyer, Funbi is bringing first-hand industry knowledge to Ballbridge Technologies – a platform designed to bring together the fragmented information and processes involved in managing an athlete’s career. With an MVP already live and a freemium model in place, the next challenge is demonstrating the scale of the market to attract investment and refining the features that will turn users into paying customers.

The Cooper Project continues to evolve

For Sheffield Technology Parks, the event reflected how the Cooper Project is growing and evolving. As demand for the programme continues to increase, so too have the expectations placed on the founders joining it – and the quality of the businesses, pitches and progress showcased that the higher bar is translating into very exciting results.

As Rose concluded: “I’m so proud of them all. They did a fantastic job, from preparation to delivery, and it was a real pleasure to see them share their businesses and showcase how far they’ve come since joining the Cooper Project.”

She added, “I’d like to give a massive thank you also to our mentors, advisors and partners who joined us, shared valuable feedback and helped create meaningful connections for our founders. The Cooper Project and events like these are made all the more powerful through the ecosystem support that we have.”

If you have an early-stage tech startup and would like support to take your next steps, get in touch with us.