We have liftoff: the 5 turbocharged start-ups turning lessons into results
It’s been 12 weeks since we launched our latest growth programme. This cohort is our broadest and most diverse to date; and there’s been lots of excitement around their potential impact with each company bringing a unique mission and focus. Over the past weeks, the five participating companies have benefited from tailored hands-on support, including mentorship, workshops, as well as introductions, and teams have been making strides towards their goals. With only 3 weeks remaining until Demo Day, here is what they’ve told us about their progress so far.
The Growth Programme began in London with an in-person meeting in early February. Since then, the Pi Labs team have been meeting with the cohort 2–3 times a week as a group, as well as individually with each company. We’ve also come together to share the highs and lows of building companies from the ground up.
There’s been workshops and speaker sessions on diverse topics, including financials, fundraising, growth marketing and sales structure. Our teams have heard from past alumni and founders within our portfolio including, Brittany Harris (QFlow), Cem Savas (Plentific) and Jonny Britton (LandTech).It’s been an intense period of growth, and the teams have faced that challenge head-on achieving many successes since embarking on the journey. Here are some of the highlights:
AIRMO
AIRMO has been able to employ great first key hires, including a mission engineer to kickstart and accelerate AIRMO’s product and business development. The team has also been attending exciting conferences such as the Methane Mitigation Summit or European Geosciences Union General Assembly. They have been busy setting up work packages to have the technology MVP ready in a few months to run the first testing campaigns.
“I took great learnings and support from the valuable partners of Pi Labs. Not only did they perform inspiring workshops, also scheduling 1–1s with the partners to discuss specific problems or topics was very much appreciated.” — Harriet Kügelgen, Co-Founder of AIRMO
Ambr
Ambr has launched an updated version of their product, which now integrates with Microsoft Teams, Google Calendar, Slack, and over 50 HR Systems. They have also onboarded new customers and hired a data scientist for their team.
The team have also today announced the successful close of their $900k pre-seed round.
Kertos
Kertos has made noteworthy progress; from a solution for a specific pain point (data subject right automation) to a fully-fledged Privacy OS, including functions such as Tool & Data discovery Access Management, Record of Processing activities, Vendor Management, Incident Management, Risk Assessment, and Deletion Concepts.
The team have also today announced their 4 million euro seed round led by Redstone, with participation from us at Pi Labs and seed + speed Ventures and many more.
Trunk
Trunk has officially expanded to the United States and secured their first client in California. Trunk has also made connections with potential clients at conferences attended.
“The way the programme has been run: check-in calls, follow ups, networking introductions — a genuine attention to detail that makes it worthy of your (limited!) time as a company founder.” — Tom Darlow, CEO of Trunk
Untap
Untap has made noteworthy progress in adding offices and care homes to their product waitlist. They recently did a tour in the US with Imperial College to share their solution and made new contacts on the East Coast. They have also made some key hires and continue to win government grants.
“The Growth Programme helped spark a rebrand for Untap which resulted in tremendous growth including a five times larger waitlist for our product” — Claire Trant CEO of Untap
As a team we’re really proud of the progress that’s been made by each company in this short period and believe it is testament to what can be achieved with the right support.
We are looking forward to showcasing their growth and success at our annual Demo Day on May 25th where the companies will pitch to an audience of VCs, angel investors, and potential clients. If you haven’t yet — you can register to watch Demo Day live here.
