Entrepreneurs line up for £2m contest

NEARLY 200 entrepreneurs from across the eastern counties have now entered the East of England Development Agency's Running the Gauntlet investment competition.

Entries from Cambridgeshire make up the largest share of all 187 entrants to the contest at 31.5%, followed by Norfolk at 21.5%. Fifteen per cent of the entrants so far come from Hertfordshire, 14% from Suffolk, 9.5% from Essex and 8.5% from Bedfordshire.

Women entrepreneurs account for a third of entries, with a larger proportion - 38% - entering from Suffolk and Norfolk.

The deadline for entry is now just over a month away, on September 2, and entrants can continue to sign up.

As well as the chance of winning a share of up to £2million in equity funding from the competition's four investors, CREATE, NW Brown, SEP and Low Carbon Accelerator, all entrants benefit from free access to The Gauntlet, a virtual tool devised by Library House and the London School of Economics to provide an assessment of investment readiness with an analysis of the entrepreneurs' business case.

A shortlist of 50 companies will be announced on September 12 and these will benefit from the next stage of the education programme, which draws on £250,000 worth of advice and services from the competition's commercial partners.

“With Running the Gauntlet now in its third year, it is encouraging to see that demand for the programme remains strong,” said EEDA chairman Richard Ellis.

“The East of England is highly innovative and the numbers coming forward for this competition are testament to this. We are delighted that more entrepreneurs are benefiting from the opportunities this competition presents and especially pleased to see that more women are recognising this.”