The generator is the idea of Engine Shed’s Briony Phillips. The Scale Up Enabler is partially funded by Business West and it exists as a resource to help English business founders and aspiring scale-up businesses, located in the West of the country, to access the support they need to grow.
The website aims to:
Invigorate the investment ecosystem in the region and improve access to finance.
Inspire founders and aspiring scale ups.
Invigorate and build the profile of the region as a home for successful scale up companies.
The website was designed by Bath-based Rocketmakers. The generator marks the important difference between a startup and a scaleup. A startup is a firm in the early stages of determining its product-market fit, invariably experimenting with customer segmentation and working toward a positive contribution margin. Startups typically have either zero funding, a Seed Round, or sometimes, a Series A backing them.
In contrast a scaleup is a firm that has already validated its product within the marketplace and has proven that the unit economics are sustainable. In addition, scaleups need to have an average annualized return of at least 20 percent in the past three years with at least 10 employees. There is also a difference in terms of the stage of funding between a startup and a scaleup. Scaleups tend to attract category A funding.
Discussing the new website, founder Briony Phillips said: “The West of England is a national leader and innovator in this kind of work. The Scale up Generator website demonstrates how rich both the scale up support community, and the scale up communities are in the wider Bristol and Bath region. Now, our collective challenge is to maximize the positive impact for all our citizens.”
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As well as generators, the hub concept provides additional support for scaleups. An example of this is with the FTE Startup Hub, which is a platform that provides a space for corporate innovators and air transport industry startups and scaleups to engage with one another. The hub attracts serious investors, according to the website Future Travel Experience, including JetBlue Technology Ventures, Gatwick Airport, WOW air, Hong Kong International Airport, Hamad International Airport and Vantage Airport Group.
