Venture Challenge winners announced

Thursday 28 September 2023

Two start-ups have shared the joint first prize in the 2023 Guernsey Venture Challenge, winning £30,000 each to kick start their businesses.

The Digital Greenhouse initiative saw eight local businesses pitching for funding after an intensive six-week accelerator programme where they worked with mentors from Blenheim Chalcot.

The shortlisted businesses each initially pitched for a chance to win a first prize of £40,000, a second prize of £20,000 and a third prize of £10,000.

In the end, the decision was made to award Petlearnia and C-section UK £30,000 each as joint winners.

"Coming joint 1st on the Pitch Night has really broadened my horizons," said the Founder of Petlearnia, Joanna Corder.

"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, saying it will help their business grow.

“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.“

Of the other shortlisted companies; Three Brain Training, Cloud Wealth, The Fund Society, WXplr, Stage Portal, and KIWI, Stage Portal won £10,000.

Each of 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 next month before The Véyaon Awards in November.

Pictured: The winners at last week's final pitch event.