Welcome to our weekly South West Tech News roundup, where you can get all the headlines from the past week in one place.
What has our busy tech and digital community been up to this week? From award wins and innovative breakthroughs to unmissable events and capital raised, take a moment to reflect on the hive of daily activity taking place in our region.
If you have a story to share, wizz it over to will@techspark.co – I look forward to hearing from you!
Since its launch in Birmingham in 2015, the NatWest Accelerator has expanded to 12 hubs across the UK, supporting nearly 10,000 businesses, helping them raise over £684 million in investment, and creating more than 12,000 jobs.
In celebration of this 10-year milestone, NatWest has unveiled the Accelerator Pitch, a £1 million competition running through 2025 and beyond. The first phase includes regional finals, where five shortlisted entrepreneurs will pitch in person, and the top three will split £100,000 (with £70,000 awarded to the winner).
NatWest has teamed up with Google Cloud to give startups in its Accelerator access to AI tools, cloud credits, and training on AI implementation and digital marketing, delivered via both the app and physical hubs.
Looking ahead, NatWest plans to partner with up to 10 UK universities over the next three years, bringing new accelerator sites onto campuses and opening doors to even more entrepreneurs. 10,000 businesses are expected to join the Accelerator community in 2025 alone.
Bristol’s Condense, known for its volumetric streaming tech, has introduced Layerhouse.
Layerhouse is a virtual production app that transforms an iPhone into a Hollywood-level creative tool. With Layerhouse, creators can film someone anywhere (no studio and no green screen needed) and automatically embed them into cinematic, AI-generated environments in minutes. The app is currently in closed beta, and interested early adopters can apply to join now
NextGen RISE, in partnership with techSPARK and funded by the West of England Combined Authority, is offering two 16-week Skills Bootcamps designed to help learners progress into careers in the games, immersive, animation, and VFX industries.
These programmes combine expert-led training, portfolio development, and tailored career coaching to help learners bridge the gap into employment.
Available Bootcamps:
Game Development: Strengthen your C# skills, develop game-ready prototypes, and learn directly from industry mentors.
Unreal Engine: Advance your skills in lighting, VFX, cinematic rendering, and real-time production pipelines.
Jitty.com is an AI-powered search startup, partly based in Bath. Last week REA Group announced their investment into Jitty of $3.8million
Jitty co-founder and CEO, Graham Paterson, commented: “This investment marks a huge moment for Jitty. We’re thrilled to welcome REA Group as partners – their global expertise and commitment to innovation will be invaluable as we scale.”