Goldacre Ventures (Goldacre), a VC firm based in London focusing on the Smart Built Environment, has opened applications for its annual scale-up programme, RElab.
RElab 2021 will mark the firm’s third consecutive annual scale-up programme and will build on the success achieved over the two previous cohorts.
The 2021 programme is supported by RElab’s growing ecosystem of industry partners, including Capreon; JCA Engineering; Kier; Knight Frank; Landsec; Lockton; LogiFruit; Mace; and RSBG.
This year, RElab’s focus will be on the two themes of sustainability and of construction technology. For this, they will look to partner with exceptional scale-ups commercialising solutions that transform smart cities and smart buildings to be more sustainable and productive across all asset classes and phases of the asset lifecycle.
At its core, the RElab 2021 scale-up programme is designed to validate each company’s product-market-fit and accelerate growth. The 8-12 companies selected as part of the 2021 cohort will get the opportunity to engage with RElab’s ecosystem of leading corporate partners and mentors to explore commercial pilots and to gain rapid customer feedback.
In addition to facilitating market access, the programme includes curated networking events, expertise seminars and industry roundtables, as well as tailored 1-to-1 mentorship sessions with leading experts on topics such as sales & marketing, pricing strategy and technology roadmap. The programme offers up to GBP100,000 in funding as well as the opportunity to meet RElab’s ecosystem of tier-1 investors.
The three-month programme will commence in mid-November and, given the uncertainties of the Covid-19 pandemic, is planned to be delivered in a hybrid format. Panels, roundtables and mentoring will be delivered virtually with, where possible, a combination of virtual and in-person networking events where safe and practical to do so.
Fionnuala Hogan, founder of RElab and head of early-stage investments at Goldacre Ventures, says: “The built environment is undergoing rapid change in the way we plan, build, operate and service real assets as we respond to the challenges of digitisation, sustainability, urbanisation and a growing as well as aging population. With the launch of RElab 2021, we are looking forward to meeting some the most innovative and exciting scale-ups in the space and to working with them and our industry partners to shape our future smart built world.”
David Bloom, founding partner of the Noé Group, adds: “Following the success achieved during the last two RElab programmes, the Noé Group is proud to continue to support and to be a partner of the RElab programme. The innovation we are seeing through RElab and its ecosystem of entrepreneurs, corporate partners, matters experts and investors are enabling our Group and our investors to be at the centre of change within the smart built environment space.”