Seeking innovation through Nexus

The proud boast of Nexus, the £40m innovation hub at the University of Leeds, is that it provides seamless access to world-leading research, talent and facilities.

Its aim is to accelerate and de-risk innovation and maximise commercial returns.

Innotech Insights, the start-up behind leading pedestrian movement platform ‘Crowded’, is the latest business to join its growing community of tech companies.

This particular tech business provides public and private sector organisations with the information they need to make major planning decisions by accurately monitoring pedestrian movements in an area.

And its move into Nexus follows the data analysis business securing £160,000 in funding from NPIF – Maven Equity Finance.

That funding will support the expansion of Innotech’s sales team, investment in product development and in the roll out of Crowded.

Liam Wright

The business was founded in Leeds in 2015 by Liam Wright. He said: “Nexus is the natural home for us as we gear up for growth.

“Along with developing-cutting edge new products, we are also looking to expand our team. Being part of the Nexus community gives us access to an outstanding talent pool and leading academic research at the University of Leeds.

“We have tried to partner with universities before, but it’s never really worked. The Nexus proposition is so unique because it combines the research and academic expertise with real business advice and support, both from its relationship management team, and its commercial partnerships with the likes of KPMG and NorthInvest.

“The team have already opened doors for us, helping us to make new connections, and they will be invaluable as we scale up over the coming months.”

Alex Rothwell, investment manager at Maven, added: “Innotech’s technology is a pioneer in its field for this type of data system.

“Liam and his team have identified a definite and growing need for a reliable source of information and understand that to achieve this, projects must be led by technology and not be process, procedure or man-power driven.

“We look forward to working with Liam he expands the sales team in Yorkshire and embarks upon an exciting programme of growth.”

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