Growing startups celebrate success

Startup companies who use co-working space at Cardiff Innovations have celebrated success.

A ‘Class of 2023’ networking event brought together student, graduate and alumni companies who take advantage of hot desks and top business advice in the city’s newest incubator.

Based in sbarc|spark, Cardiff Innovations gives University collaborators affordable support to turn great ideas into real innovations.

The event brought together colleagues from a range of businesses including the integrated health and social care platform Haelu, design and rapid prototyping startup Rusty Design, and Student Wallet, which helps students maximise their finances.

Ellie Seddon, COO at Haelu, said: “We’d been trying to figure out where we wanted our desk to be. Every time, we’d sit somewhere new, the neighbours would come and say hello. Now I tend to like to pick places where I don't know the people sat there, so we just get talking and that builds on our network – it’s great.”

Paddy Gardner, CEO, Haelu, added: “The wonderful thing about Cardiff Innovations is the number of different and diverse companies here in sbarc|spark. Just today, we had the opportunity to meet people who were working with AI machine learning and 3D printing. Whilst they may not be directly relevant to our business, the more we talk, the more mutual connections we uncover and generate ideas we’ll be able to share.

“My favourite part of being at sbarc|spark is the constant networking opportunities, from the cliched but important ‘water cooler’ conversations all the way down to the structured networking events which we really appreciate.”

Bleddyn Williams, Director, Rusty Design, agrees. “It’s the nicest office we've had in Cardiff, and we've worked in various places around town. The views are amazing and we feel it matches our ambition. We’ve spoken to a lot of other entrepreneurs here: there’s a lot of people doing really, really interesting stuff, and we want to be in that space and environment.”

Rhys Pearce-Palmer, Innovations Operations Manager, said: “Cardiff Innovations is an inspiring space to work, bringing people together and driving innovation. Over the past year, we have welcomed 11 startups and spinouts into our exciting hotdesking space. Entrepreneurs work with us to develop and grow their business. We offer networking opportunities to skill share and collaborate and well as connecting collaborators with the wider university and the university’s partners and networks.”

Cardiff Innovations is equipped with facilities to turn dreams to reality, including lettable office space, formal and informal meeting areas, high-end conference facilities, wet lab space and joint exhibition/presentation areas.

Located at Maindy Park in the heart of Cardiff, the Centre features a range of new facilities that will allow innovation to flourish including high-speed broadband, Milk & Sugar café, co-working areas, central reception, and access to the University’s professional business expertise.

Interested in hot-desking with Cardiff Innovations? Contact Rhys at sbarcinnovations@cardiff.ac.uk