About Ignite
Based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne – a lively, diverse,
cosmopolitan city and one of the UK’s strongest tech clusters outside
the capital – and with operations in London and NYC, Ignite operates one
of Europe’s top accelerator programmes as well as one of the largest
venues dedicated to early-stage technology startups.
Founded in 2011 by Colin Willis (Hotspur Capital), Jon Bradford
(Techstars) and Paul Smith, Ignite was expected to be a one-off, three
month programme. Instead, the city’s appetite for technology and
collaboration saw Ignite grow into an independent co-working space and
venue.
As Newcastle’s ambition grew, so did we. Two years later, Ignite
launched a Community Fund to help improve the quality and quantity of
Newcastle and Gateshead-based tech meetups, and became the regional
coordinators for national educational charity CodeClub. This year,
Campus North opened its doors – a new home for over 150 founders,
developers and designers.
Ignite is now the UK’s top pre-seed accelerator programme;
early-stage teams are more likely to raise more investment with us.
Startups from our first three cohort have raised over £10 million –
compared to other accelerators focussing on pre-seed teams, Ignite is
the top programme in the UK.
Ignite is funded primarily through commercial activity, but
previously raised investment from Northstar Ventures in 2013 through the
FBNE Accelerator Fund, managed by North East Finance as
part of the £125m FBNE programme. That programme was made possible
through funding from the European Regional Development Fund 2007-2013
and the European Investment Bank.
