New Entrepreneurs in Residence Announced

BetaDen, an award-winning organisation providing fully-funded support to innovative technology businesses, has announced Alison Skidmore, Founder of EaseTwist and director of Care4Futures, as Entrepreneur in Residence for Cohort 8.0.

A graduate of Cohort 7.0, Alison has been developing a time-saving buckle for harnesses with applications across the haulage, military, leisure and medical sectors. She joins Prizsm Technologies - creators of a quantum-resistant, hyper-secure data storage and communications solution - in the role. Both businesses will work with BetaDen Cohort 8.0 founders, offering guidance and support from their unique perspectives as early-stage businesses that have recently lived the same ‘route to market’ journey.

Alison Skidmore said: ‘’I have had an amazing journey with BetaDen and I am grateful for all the support and mentorship I have received. The assistance from BetaDen has been invaluable to EaseTwist’s success and I am looking forward to meeting the new cohort members and sharing any insights that might help them navigate their own route to market over the coming months.’’

Ian Drury, Co-founder of Prizsm, added: “We're thrilled with the support we have received from BetaDen to develop our technology and get our commercial offer off the ground. The team has helped us connect with the right people and partners to test and validate our solution and we’re delighted to be able to pay that support forward by continuing in our role as Entrepreneurs in Residence for Cohort 8.0.

“One of the key benefits of BetaDen is the access to a network of peers and experts it provides and, while it is rewarding in itself to work with each cohort to develop their ideas, it is very much a two-way street, with their challenges and ideas providing new perspectives and inspiration that continue to shape our own technology journey.”

Donston Powell, Director of External Affairs at BetaDen, concluded: “We are excited to welcome Alison to BetaDen’s Entrepreneur in Residence team. By sharing their lived experiences with the new cohort, both Alison and the Prizsm team will add real value to our current cohort, helping them navigate the challenges they will face along the way with genuine understanding and first-hand experience.”

BetaDen offers various support programmes for technology-centred businesses. Since its inception, it has supported over 50 innovative technology businesses in the county. These businesses have introduced groundbreaking technologies such as 5G at sea (Jet Connectivity), large-scale 3D concrete printing (ChangeMaker 3D), and voice-face fused recognition technology (FARx). Graduates of the programme have so far supported over 260 jobs and announced over £522 million raised in investment and funding.

The eight businesses that recently joined Cohort 8.0 are DMA Europa, Garland Surgical, uControl, Nonowrap, Sandfield Engineering, Smart90, Split Second Research, and Zone Manager.