Inside the R/GA IoT Venture Studio UK: Nine Companies Bringing Digital Innovation into the Real World
Launched in collaboration with Innovate UK, the British government’s innovation agency, our IoT Venture Studio UK returned to London for the second time this February. As the program — run out of our Shoreditch office — comes to a close, we’re sharing some of the highlights in advance of our demo day on May 3rd.
R/GA Ventures got its start in the IoT space — launching its accelerator program with five connected hardware startups in 2013. Almost five years and 80+ companies later, we’ve branched into many other verticals, from sports to media to infrastructure to pet care. Yet we’re proud to maintain strong roots in the IoT world, and are particularly excited about the most recent group of companies out of our program in London.
These founders have built what we think of as next-generation IoT solutions — from a company that helps its clients better utilize space through smart building sensors to one that democratises advertisers access to digital billboards. Our most recent cohort is tapping into AI, computer vision, groundbreaking wearable technology, and powerful data and analytics to connect people and places in new ways. And for the past three months, they’ve been working with and learning from industry experts to take their businesses to the next level. This week, we’ll celebrate their progress as they pitch to selected investors, industry experts and the tech community during the program-culminating showcase.
Here’s a closer look at the Studio and how it helped startups accelerate their products and brands.
Expert Sessions: Practical Advice, Meaningful Connections
Throughout the program, founders had the opportunity to spend 1:1 time with industry experts and investors from companies and firms like Google, Samsung, British Design Fund, IBM, Citibank, Sheridans, Hachette, C4 Ventures, Frontline Ventures, Kindred Ventures, and Connect Ventures. These sessions served as a great setting for pitch practice and making connections that could result in new business.
These executives also hosted a variety of practical workshops, such as one led by Abdul Guefor from Intel Capital around raising their Series A and pitching to American investors.
We also connected founders to the larger Interpublic Group family, hosting R/GA sister agency Golin for a PR masterclass. Throughout the workshop, companies learned best practices for pitching media, building an audience through influencer marketing, and making the most out of social media.
Founder Stories: Learning From Those Who’ve Lived It
R/GA Ventures alumni from past IoT programs stopped by to talk to founders about their experience growing and scaling their companies. Luke Schoenfelder, founder of smart access company Latch (who joined this program as an official sponsor), walked the cohort through a variety of pitch decks to show how their story evolved as their company did. Dan Bladen, founder of mobile charging technology Chargifi, focused on the importance of team building, and how to keep morale high even when things get hard. The cohort also heard from the founders of ScreenCloud, who gave a workshop on writing investor updates.
The Studio also welcomed founders outside of the R/GA portfolio, including Bethany Koby of Tech Will Save Us and Jeff Veen, who founded and exited two companies to Google and Adobe before joining True Ventures as a Partner.
These sessions aimed to help demystify the entrepreneurial experience for founders, and gave startups the opportunity to connect with people who were a few steps ahead of them — painting a picture of what their companies could be in just a few years’ time. Perhaps more importantly, however, they provided them with practical, personal, and tangible advice: Koby talked about how to identify investment milestones, Schoenfelder highlighted some of the metrics that founders should track at various stages of growth, and Bladen shared his personal experience working with investors.
Creative Capital: Harnessing R/GA’s Talent Network
One of our biggest and most important differentiators is the access that we give founders to our global network of designers, technologists, strategists, writers, and consultants. Throughout the program, each company was supported by an R/GA team that had been custom-built to execute a project that would help the company achieve greater product-market fit. These projects ranged from the creative (visual branding) to the financial (market sizing, modeling, and pricing analysis).
Additionally, each company had access to our “presentations” team, which worked with founders to perfect their pitch narrative and create a cohesive, visually appealing deck. These presentations will be on display at our upcoming demo event, during which founders will pitch to a group of executives and investors from the technology and innovation community.
Looking Ahead
While our Venture Studios have an official end date, the nine companies in the IoT program will join our growing portfolio — a group that we work hard to support at all stages of growth. We continue to look out for opportunities to connect our portfolio companies with R/GA clients and those of our sister agencies. We also connect startups with internal teams wherever there are opportunities for collaboration. (Portfolio company Relative Insight, for example, has helped multiple teams with pitch work.)
Make sure to follow us on Twitter @rgaventures on May 3rd, when we’ll be sharing highlights from our demo event. You can find more about the IoT program and companies at rgaiot.com, and read the official Studio announcement in Fast Company here.
