North West entrepreneurs share £75,000 prize fund to help take their start-ups to the next level

• Fifteen teams of entrepreneurs have been awarded a share of a £75,000 cash prize as part of Alliance Manchester Business School’s 2021 Venture Further start-up competition
• Annual competition hosted by serial entrepreneur, investor and AMBS alumnus Vikas Shah MBE

Fifteen teams of Manchester-based entrepreneurs have been awarded cash prizes as part of the annual Venture Further start-up competition.

Run by Alliance Manchester Business School’s Masood Entrepreneurship Centre and hosted by Vikas Shah MBE, entrepreneur, alumnus and Honorary Professor at AMBS, the competition invites students and recent graduates to submit their business proposals to an expert judging panel of enterprise and business professionals.

The competition offers an exclusive opportunity to win a significant cash injection to help kick-start their business ideas. Each of the five categories – Environmental, Healthcare, Services, Social and Technology – saw a total of 25 shortlisted entries compete for the top cash prize of £10,000. Second place winners were awarded £3,500 and third place £1,500.

Winners this year included What’s Fresh, a technology platform enabling customers to order high quality fresh local produce, by modernising the ‘shop local’ experience; Simplex Modular, a biotech start-up developing a new diagnostic system to detect antibiotic-resistant bacteria; and IGOLO, an online hub promoting sustainability in the home construction industry by making the know-how, materials and expertise more accessible to homeowners.

Lynn Sheppard, Director of the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre at AMBS, said: “The Venture Further start-up competition continues to evolve, and as it does it plays an important role in highlighting and nurturing the wide range of entrepreneurial students and alumni at Alliance Manchester Business School and across The University of Manchester.

“Manchester is a global hub for entrepreneurship, and the competition has helped to launch many successful new ventures and careers. It is so inspiring to see ventures with ethical and sustainable issues at their core, and we will continue to support the development of real talent and uncover the responsible business leaders of tomorrow.”

Venture Further 2021 was supported by IBM, Slalom, and Vita Student. Watch a recording of the online awards ceremony here and the full list of winners can be found here.