Global Entrepreneurship Week: search engine of Venture Capital receives investment from University

Ship Shape, a Welsh start-up, and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David have announced a strategic partnership during Global Entrepreneurship week.

Innovation and entrepreneurship are increasingly recognised as key to solving many of the world’s challenges, from climate change to relieving poverty.

Far Left: Gareth Williams; Left: Kathryn Penaluna; Middle Left: Alistair Baillie; Middle Right: Daniel Sawko; Far Right: Ian Walsh — Far Left: Gareth Williams; Left: Associate Professor Kathryn Penaluna; Middle Left: Alistair Baillie; Middle Right: Daniel Sawko; Far Right: Provost Ian Walsh

Ship Shape has built a search engine that identifies highly relevant investors in seconds. It is currently available to Universities, Venture Capital firms, Corporate Finance firms and Governmental organisations for the entrepreneurs they support.

Venture Capital is an increasingly important source of funding to enable brilliant start-ups to achieve these ambitions, but finding the right investors with knowledge is difficult. Venture Capital also has gained in importance for Universities, that have significant IP that requires private, long-term focused sources of funding to commercialise.

Venture Capital is a growing industry. In 2020, the global Venture Capital industry was estimated at £220bn. For 2021, £310bn had already been invested by August. However, it is an industry plagued by entrepreneurs spending months trying to identify the right individuals at VC firms to speak with.

The idea was born in South Wales and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) is now making a strategic investment into Ship Shape to help the team accelerate growth globally, in addition to utilising the academic, technical and network expertise of UWTSD. Dr Kathryn Penaluna, Associate Professor in Enterprise Education at UWTSD quickly recognised the potential of the idea and has supported Ship Shape from infancy:

Associate Professor in Enterprise Education at UWTSD, Dr Kathryn Penaluna said:

“We’re delighted to announce our partnership with Ship Shape to coincide with Global Entrepreneurship Week. Many great ideas are generated within our educational institutions and we’re ambitious that Wales becomes an engine of Innovation centred around UWTSD.”

Co-founder and CEO of Ship Shape, Daniel Sawko agrees:

“The strategic partnership with UWTSD is a real statement of intent from both of us. Empowering innovation has never been more important to our future and yet many potentially ground-breaking innovations still can’t find the right people in Venture Capital to help them grow.

We’re ambitious about unlocking and commercialising brilliant ideas around the world, which could go much further with better access to the relevant Venture Capital investors.”

The strategic partnership follows other exciting announcements in the Swansea Bay City Deal area, that have highlighted the burgeoning high-tech ecosystem developing in South and West Wales and the tremendous potential of human-capital rich areas outside of London and the South East.

Read the press release from UWTSD here