Growth story set to continue for research business with £25,000 investment

A fledgling research business based in South Yorkshire has set its sights on international expansion after scooping £25,000 of equity investment.

Research Retold, which was launched in April 2016, takes complex, lengthy research documents and turns them into easily digestible summaries.

The business is now looking to expand overseas after winning a £25,000 from UK Steel Enterprise following its participation in a 12-week development initiative as part of the pilot Y-Accelerator start-up programme.

The company saw off seven other regionally-based entrepreneurs to secure the investment, including cost-effective eco-home designers Reach Homes, sensory educational product and teaching method developers Brailler, and Sheffield-based online gift shop BearHugs Gifts.

Research Retold’s founder Mihaela Gruia said: “We summarise the key findings of reports and visually represent them in a way that resonates with audiences beyond the academic community.

“We aim to bring together academics, research communicators and graphic designers in order to make research clear and beautiful. In doing so, our goal is to establish Research Retold as a trusted partner of researchers and research-driven institutions in the UK and beyond.”

Gruia says the £25,000 investment will be ‘key’ to ensuring that growth targets are reached over the next year or so.
 
“By completion of the first year we plan to deliver 109 projects and for this we will recruit 25 new associates from within the region,” she said. “We then hope to double our output and expand our associate network in year two.
 
“The plan for year three is to develop an associate management plan to cover most research-intensive universities in the UK, at which point we will be looking to develop partnerships with research-oriented individuals and organisations outside of the UK as well.”

Keith Williams, regional mannager of UK Steel Enterprise which invests in growing companies locally, said: “The Y-Accelerator is a unique initiative that brings together various forms of support to create an intensive incubator for entrepreneurs with start-up ideas.  

“The process was designed to help validate ideas, develop strong business models and provide people with the tools and skills to launch new businesses, and Research Retold really demonstrated existing capacity for growth and expansion.”
 
 

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