Start-up in Residence Dell Winners Announced

by Startacus Admin

Those of you with super-long elephant-style memories will remember back in December we ran an article about the Start-up in Residence competition from Dell – well last week (27th March to be precise) the winners were finally announced.

Scooping the top prize was smart email and messaging software provider Fan Too, in second place was iNovar, a mobile business intelligence specialist.

Startups the length and breadth of the UK were invited to apply for the competition, with a tempting opportunity to remove the burden of costly (but necessary) investments needed to grow their business.

So who are they and what have they won?

Fan Too, founded by Jordan Fantaay, the company has developed a smart email systemwhich they see as the future of email and messaging. The technology will help you to organise emails into a visually appealing interface, with innovative time management tools combined with relevant, real-time imagery…. all sounds rather fancy.

iNovar was founded following the successful creation of a mobile Business Intelligence (BI) solution which was selected by Gartner as ‘Cool Vendor for 2012 for Business Analytics.’ With mobile use within corporations increasing, iNovar see a real opportunity to help users access the same content as they are used to using on their desktops regardless of device.

Both will now take up residency with Dell’s rather fab Bracknell headquarters - Fan Too for two years and iNovar for one year. They also receive a generous package of business ready technology including goodies such as laptops, desktops, servers, storage and software – not to mention access to invaluable mentorship and global networking opportunities… the lucky things.

The winning companies were chosen by a panel of judges including Tim Griffin, vice president and managing director of Dell UK and Ingrid Vanderveldt, Dell’s global Entrepreneur in Residence. Each impressed for a number of reasons including their ability to demonstrate innovation and a clear vision for the future.

Well we here at Startacus caught up with the winners to ask them a few questions:

Jordan Fantaay

Q. So what, do you think, set you apart from other start-ups?

“A great team, partners, and a mass market opportunity in a space with a synergy with Dell as well as passion, enthusiasm, and an unrelenting spirit to succeed.

Q. You have dubbed your software ‘the future of email,’ so where do you see it in five years?

“We see it as the underlying fabric of all emails, making email a productivity tool fit for the future, and not a productivity killer.”

Q. You are obviously good at pitching, so what one piece of advice would you give to another new start up just about to do just that?

“Go and pitch as often as you can, practice, express your passion for your vision.”

David Monks

Q. We know what you guys are all about, but can you put it in layman’s terms in about two sentences for all our readers.

“We provide organisations with the ability to access all of their Business Intelligence content, regardless of the BI tools they use, on mobile devices in a 100% data secure method without any re-engineering and within days. This includes providing for the use of so-called ‘unsupported’ technologies such as Flash, Flex, ActiveX, Java and Silverlight which can create challenges for some vendors mobile devices”

Q. What encouraged you to apply for the Dell Start-up in Residence competition in the first place.

“Dell was a trusted name which is synonymous with innovation (and that’s what our name and tagline is all about – results through innovation) plus the very fact that we are a simultaneous UK/US startup meant that Dell’s US parentage was of great interest. Due to our newness (sales only really started in January this year) and dual nationality I had expected this to be something which would rule us out from being considered as finalists so to end up as a winner is beyond belief”

Q. What is next for iNovar?

“We’re looking forward to working closely with the management teams within Dell and in particular getting the message out to the large company customer base of Dell about the benefits of using our technology alongside their Dell equipment and services. The win is going to enable us to recruit the internal sales team we’re seeking more rapidly and give them a fabulous base from which to work!”

It’s been great to chat with you guys - Once again we at Startacus would like to congratulate both winners and wish them all the best for the future.

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Published on: 9th April 2014