A successful London start up accelerator has chosen Sheffield as the base for its next programme and wants to hear from consumer-driven companies across the region.
Unrest has already helped develop 16 London businesses with goals including green agendas, diversity, fertility and improved mental health, and now it plans to bring the good work up North, with Sheffield as its first hub.
South Yorkshire Unrest will be running an in-person programme in Sheffield every six months from September, and annually aims to support up to 30 Northern-based, consumer-driven startups which positively impact on people’s lives. With the Sheffield programme, Unrest hopes to tip the scales of investment and growth, accelerating businesses forward through workshops, one-to-ones, access to a similar business community and through exclusive opportunities with its partners. The programme will be delivered in partnership with Capital Enterprise (UK) Limited and Barnsley Council, and is part-funded through the European Regional Development Fund.
In 2021, over 68 per cent of all UK investment went solely to companies based in London. In contrast, less than one per cent of all UK investment went to Yorkshire, despite amazing businesses growing out of the region. Unrest is also committed to investing in diverse founders, supporting founders that reflect the society we live in. In the latest cohort, black-owned businesses make up 45 per cent and 91 per cent of the start-ups are mixed or female only teams. Currently, VCs share of capital going to female only or mixed teams is at a staggering low 5 per cent.
Orr Vinegold, Unrest founder, said: “Not only does the Unrest programme aim to target and improve this imbalance in opportunity – there’s a genuine flurry of purpose-driven start ups coming from Yorkshire and the North. Data shows that 20 per cent of impact companies are started in Yorkshire.”
Unrest will run the South Yorkshire Programme in tandem with the London programme, with crossover events. At the end of the programme, start ups from South Yorkshire will be invited to London to pitch alongside their London cohort counterparts at an investor-filled Demo Day.
