SEED Startup Fund Competition

At the University of Southampton, the Student Enterprise Team (based in the Careers and Employability Service), Future Worlds (the on-campus start-up accelerator, based within the Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences) and the University’s Social Impact Lab have come together to offer the SEED Start-Up Funding Competition.

The competition is exclusive to University of Southampton students and supports them in the creation and development of early-stage businesses or social enterprises through the awarding of funding prizes. Students have to submit business plans and video pitches before being shortlisted to pitch in front of a panel of judges.

The Engineers in Business Competition has been integrated into the SEED Fund to engage more engineers and students with engineering-related business ideas to develop their own start-up businesses. Students from specific and relevant engineering modules are also able to apply via their coursework assignments, offering an innovative approach to reaching out to more students with the opportunity.

First Prize Winner: Chronova Engineering

Project:

Hazel Mitchell, second-year PhD Engineering and the Environment Student – £1,500 Engineers in Business Prize 

Hazel won first prize for her business, Chronova Engineering which offers bespoke engineering products and solutions for individuals, researchers and other businesses.

Awarded: £1,500

Second Prize Winner: Hortlock

Project:

Adam Abbas, Computer Science Student – £1,000 Engineers in Business Prize

Hortlock is developing FinTech software for banks to use for ESG-linked loans. The software automatically suggests optimised KPIs and sustainable targets tailored to the borrowers.

Awarded: £1,000

Third Prize Winner: AMRSS

Project:

£500 Third Prize: Grace Lam, Mechanical Engineering Student

Grace’s business, AMRSS, aims to bridge the gap in information available to on-track F1 engineers, providing insights that can improve performance on the day.

Awarded: £500

Positive feedback

The Engineers in Business Competition prize is an incredible opportunity for our University of Southampton students, and it is great to be part of this national scheme. It has enabled engineering students with innovative ideas to gain real traction and accelerate the development of their ventures. In 2020 our winning student from our University of Southampton Engineers in Business Competition went on to be a winner of the national competition, which is a fantastic achievement.

Sarah Rogers
Student Opportunities and Enterprise Manager
University of Southampton