TECH
Venue – inside Flok’ s purposebuilt Hustlers Arena auditorium.
FORGING THE FUTURE
How Tees Valley Labs has helped turn Teesside into a powerhouse for tech and innovation
WORDS: PAUL FRASER
When Middlesbrough made headlines by being named the fastest-growing tech hub outside of London, it was a proud moment for the region.
New business registrations and digital tech codes are fantastic indicators of ambition, but without specialist support, early-stage start-ups often face an uphill battle to turn their concepts into commercial reality.
That is where Tees Valley Labs has stepped in.
Delivered by Alt Labs and based out of the vibrant Flok co-working space in Middlesbrough, the Tees Valley Labs initiative has been an important part of the local start-up scene.
Fully funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, and delivered on behalf of the Tees Valley mayor and the Tees Valley Combined Authority( TVCA), the programme has spent the last two years providing retrospective, tailored pathways for founders.
Recognising that businesses require vastly different resources depending on their maturity, Tees Valley Labs split its intensive support into two distinct cohorts: The Stable and The Forge, supplemented by a two-day Pre-Flight workshop designed to get budding entrepreneurs ready for the incubator stage.
The Stable acts as the incubator programme. It is a six-month journey tailored for start-up businesses and founders at the very beginning of their entrepreneurial journey.
Over the last cohort, 24 businesses came through The Stable. The core objective was to help founders follow through their early ideas, build strong foundations and transform raw concepts into investable, scalable ventures.
Crucially, the programme recognises the personal financial risks of launching a start-up.
Founders in the incubator draw down a stipend of £ 2,200 a month – funding that goes directly to the founder to help them survive and focus entirely on the business without the immediate pressure of personal financial ruin.
The Forge is a rapid 12-week accelerator programme aimed at highgrowth, innovative companies that already have market traction and revenue.
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