The Best Startup Firms in the Midlands Revealed

The best startup firms in the Midlands have been revealed at the Midlands Start-Up Awards, which were held at The Custard Factory in Birmingham and saw 30 different awards given out to new businesses in categories such as Innovative StartUp of the Year, Medtech & Healthtech StartUp of the Year and Social Enterprise StartUp of the Year. 

The Midlands Startup of the Year was won by The VCTC. The VCTC brings clinical trials to patients by providing care in their home. It is creating diversity in clinical trial populations, generating high quality clinical trial data, whilst saving sponsors time and money through a compassionate, expeditious clinical trial site service.

The team at the VCTC had this to say about their win: 

“We are ecstatic to win both the Midlands Startup of the Year and the MedTech and Healthtech startup of the year, at the Start-up Awards 2023. We started VCTC back in 2022 with little more than an idea and since then we’ve stared to grow our team and have met and exceeded milestone after milestone. Shockingly, despite many clinical trial starting in 2022 and, pre-pandemic trends including plummeting diversity in clinical trials have reared their heads again. Our company is founded on the principle that clinical trials should be available to absolutely everybody, not just for the handful of people who live near a hospital.  We bring clinical trials and life-changing medicines to patients, in their home. We have a number of really exciting announcements coming up in 2023 and hope to accelerate our growth dramatically, whilst further refining our capabilities.” 

The Midlands awards were sponsored by regional sponsor, Purbeck Insurance, as well as national sponsors including Starling Bank, Blackfinch Group, British Business Bank, BT, Creative Ideaz, Dream Factory, Tiny Rebel, Jeeves, Join Talent, Mountside Ventures, OVH Cloud, the Purposeful Project and ScoreApp. 

The StartUp Awards were established in 2022 to highlight the success of start-ups across ten UK nations and regions and to celebrate the achievements of entrepreneurs in all sectors of the economy. Originally formed as the Wales StartUp Awards, the Awards Series has joined forces with the Great British Entrepreneur Awards to take the celebration of newly formed businesses nationwide. 

Helen Bierton, Chief Banking Officer at Starling Bank says: 

“Congratulations to all our  entrepreneurs in the Midlands who have been shortlisted this year. It’s been so inspiring to learn about the challenges overcome to build their successful businesses. From green startups providing carbon negative mobile greengrocery delivery services, to a medtech creating a game-changing bionic arm that will change the perception of prosthetics, it’s great to celebrate such innovation from my home region.” 

Professor Dylan Jones-Evans OBE, creator of the awards, said the events have celebrated the best new firms in the UK and recognised the amazing entrepreneurial talent across the nation. He said: 

“In the second year of the Midlands Startup Awards, we have seen yet again the incredible contribution of new businesses to job creation, innovation, and prosperity across the whole of this entrepreneurial nation. It’s been an honour and a pleasure to read the stories of those individuals from across the Midlands who have spotted the opportunity and taken the risk to launch their own venture, especially at a time when the economy is still fragile after the Covid pandemic.

Congratulations to the VCTC which is bringing clinical trials to patients by providing care in their home, allowing access to anybody, anywhere, irrespective of their location. The judges were impressed with a new business that is based on a great idea that has stemmed from professional experiences over several years and is the first of its type in the UK. Not only is this start-up growing quickly but it is also making a tangible difference to the lives of those using its services which are more efficient and accessible than what is currently in the market. Not satisfied with what it currently offers, the VCTC aims to introduce a number of additional innovations over the next few years to improve its services to patients and changing the way clinical trials are delivered forever.”

Full list of winners:

The VCTC - Overall Winner

Find me a Solicitor - Birmingham StartUp of the Year

Smile Box - Business to Business Services StartUp of the Year

Limelite HR and Learning - Business, Consulting and Management StartUp of the Year

Furbnow - Construction and Building Services StartUp of the Year

Local Chefs - Consumer Services StartUp of the Year

TankSpace - Creative StartUp of the Year

Live Tech Games - Digital StartUp of the Year

Green Oranges Food Ltd - Food and Drink StartUp of the Year

Green Tomatoes  - Green StartUp of the Year

Musgrove and Ball - Health and Wellbeing StartUp of the Year

The Queer Campfire - Hospitality and Events StartUp of the Year

Flux Aviation - Innovative StartUp of the Year

Salinity Solutions Ltd - Manufacturing StartUp of the Year

Peacock Digital Marketing - Marketing, Advertising and PR StartUp of the Year

The VCTC - Medtech and Healthtech StartUp of the Year

SeatlabNFT - Mobile & Emerging Technologies StartUp of the Year

Rock Engineering Limited - Northamptonshire StartUp of the Year

Allerpack - Online Retail StartUp of the Year

Agency Connection Ltd - Professional Services StartUp of the Year

Drive Fuze - Rebel StartUp of the Year

Swi-tch Associates Limited - Recruitment StartUp of the Year

Tweak Life - Rising Star Award

Bloomwise Ltd - Rising Star Award

TRL Furniture Consulting UK - Rural StartUp of the Year

ChooseWell UK Ltd -  Social Enterprise StartUp of the Year

Luxury Cottages - Staffordshire StartUp of the Year

Verify 365 - Technology Services StartUp of the Year

Live Tech Games - Nathan Moore, Young Entrepreneur of the Year