The Pitch Top 100 - Startacus takes a look

by Startacus Admin

A week or so back The Pitch top 100 was announced... So in true Startacus tradition we took a gander over the runners and riders that feature in Britain’s ‘biggest small business competition’...If you cast your mind back a couple of months you will remember that we featured Britain’s ‘biggest small business competition’ “The Pitch” as part of our Bristol startup month.  

The competition is now in its seventh year, having grown from modest beginnings as a local event in the south west of England into the UK’s largest and most widely accessible of its kind.  The closing date for applications was in June and since then the folks over at The Pitch have been merrily sifting through all the applications in search of the most promising and original startups.

For all involved the waiting is finally over as they have invited 100 of the very best to attend an intensive training boot camp in either London or Manchester which will include extensive advice from a range of experts on all aspects of pitching and growing their business.  Each of these 100 businesses will be given a 90 second slot in which to pitch why they should progress to the final of the competition and be in with a chance of winning the thousands of pounds worth of prizes on offer.

Here’s a quick look at some of the contenders!

Van Girls - a removal company which consists exclusively of women including ex-service personnel, adventure instructors and firefighters

Sian’s Plan an innovative healthy eating plan which has recently raised £100,000 through a crowdfunding campaign.

Enclothed a personalised shopping service for fashion conscious men who don't have enough time to do their own shopping.

Night Zookeeper - a magical and inspirational brand where children discover and create imaginative animals

Waffler -  An audio blogging service wich helps people to egage and connect using the unrivaled powerr of human speech.

Unplugged Weekend -  A rather quirky startup which plans mobile device free holidays to give the young professional a break from 24 hour connectivity. 

BeerHawk - A beer delivery service which has seen annual growth of 500% !

Changing Rooms, Changing Liveswhich helps young unemployed people by loaning them affordable clothes to wear at job interviews

Bibee Dresseswhich makes fun and functional maternity clothes for expectant mothers.

Our pal Dan Martin, founder of The Pitch, had this to say on the announcement:

“I’m overwhelmed by the quality of the entrepreneurial talent in our top 100 shortlist. They really are a great representation of the fantastic business ingenuity that the UK has to offer!

We created the boot camps as a direct result of contestant feedback last year, and they offer a money-can’t-buy opportunity for our contestants to get amazing business training from some of the best experts available. I wish all 100 business owners the very best of luck.”

Being UK wide, The Pitch can be seen as something of a barometer for the startup scene of the country as a whole and that of individual areas and demographics within it (albeit a rather unscientific one). Here’s a few of the more interesting ‘statistics’ regarding this years top 100.

• The businesses collectively turnover £4.3m (about £43K each on average)  and employ more than 110 people

• 58% of the business were founded by a man, 42% by a woman

• Unsurprisingly the area with the most startups in the top 100 was London with 27 %.

• Outside of London the North West performed best with  22% followed by Scotland with 12%, West Midlands with 7%, South East with 7%, South West with 6%, Yorkshire with 6%, Wales with 4%, East Midlands with 3%, North East with 2%, East with 2%, Northern Ireland with 1% and South with1%.

The London and Manchester bootcamps are taking place in September after which 30 finalists will be invited to compete for the ultimate title in The Pitches home town of Bristol in October. We will definitely be bringing you more news of this when we get it.

If you are thinking of entering next year's competition (or you just fancy learning a bit more about the competition) you might like to check out our interview with The Pitch founder Dan Martin!

If you (like The Pitch’s Top 100) have got a great startup / idea for a startup, why not pop it into our collaboration space where you can showcase your big idea and recieve loads of support and advice from a wide range of self starters, mentors and investors.

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Published on: 13th August 2014