Hill Street Hatch leave LEVELUP judges hungry for more

by Startacus Admin

The innovative NI startup Hill Street Hatch wins over the judges to secure the LEVELUP 2021 Startup Pitch accolade and the £2k cash prize

After a competitive startup pitching event at LEVELUP 2021, with 12 early stage startups taking part, Hill Street Hatch, the exciting NI hospitality pop-up incubator, was selected as the overall winners, taking home a £2k cash prize. 

Delivered by Startacus and in partnership with Derry City and Strabane District Council, LEVELUP 2021 was a two-day hybrid event which took place on 21st and 22nd April, looking at innovation, ideas and inspiration from around the world, exploring how people, both locally & internationally, have created opportunity, economic growth & initiated real change. 

The LEVELUP pitch competition, with sponsorship from RealTime Recruitment, saw 12 NI startups pitch virtually to a panel of startup industry pros and investors including Beth Glenfield, Scout for Ada Ventures, Audrey Osbourne, Investor at Techstart Ventures LLP, Nico Albanese, Senior Associate at Ascension Ventures and local star Angel Investor Mary McKenna. 

Fellow LEVELUP judge Judge Naomi Timperley said:

"Love love love this concept - great pitch and passion! A great concept to “try before you buy” for the hospitality industry. So many restaurant concept ideas crash and burn and this is a way of trialling the concepts first and building an audience.”

Ema O'Kane and Ryan Crown, co-founders of Hill Street Hatch said:

"We are so delighted to be named the winners of the pitch competition. We’ve loved creating Hill Street Hatch and are so excited for the future and the ways in which we will be able to support and work alongside hospitality entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland! We’re really grateful to LEVELUP for seeing the potential in our startup and for choosing us for the award. "

Having worked alongside some of the of the world’s best hospitality brands and groups in New York & the US over the last 5 years, Hill Street Hatch recognized that the process of launching hospitality ventures is outdated and the risks (such as exorbitant rent, long term leases, set up costs, design, marketing etc) are now higher than ever and accelerated even more due to the global pandemic. 

Hill Street Hatch aims to remove those traditional barriers to entrepreneurship like exorbitant rent, overheads, and pressure - and replace them with resources & creative solutions including a physical pop up space currently in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter.

Claire Nixon, Director at RealTime Recruitment said:

“RealTime were delighted to sponsor this event for the 2nd year running. We are very keen to support the early-stage NI tech companies in as many ways as possible, and this event is such a brilliant vehicle for them to gain valuable recognition, experience and contacts that can really help all the entrants in their journeys. 

All of the startups were very impressive and pitched brilliantly – but a special congratulations goes to the deserving winner Hill Street Hatch – whose entrepreneurial pop-up business is set to shake up the NI hospitality scene.”

Startacus looks forward to seeing what Hill Street Hatch does next and to reporting back on their progress in the next few months. 

Subscribe to our newsletter

If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.

• #news
• #pitch
• #winners
• #
• #food
• #hospitality
• #levelup

Published on: 26th April 2021