Leicester Startups

06/10/2026

Massive congratulations are in order for Leicester Startups member Stacey Ferguson-Czersovski for securing £250k in investment 🎉

Her startup The The VenueVerse is an AI-powered platform that lets couples explore wedding venues worldwide before they travel, giving venues better-qualified enquiries and more insight into what couples want.

Stacey says she managed to raise the funds through Jenson Ventures even before launching an minimum viable product.

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A Leicester founder has secured £250k investment in her wedding venue startup. Stacey Ferguson-Czersovski says she managed to raise the funds through Jenson Ventures even before launching an minimum viable product. Her startup The VenueVerse is an AI-powered platform that lets couples explore weddi...

01/10/2026

📅 1 week to go! 📅

Our Autumn Networking Mixer & Social is coming to Canopy on Thursday 8th October, 5:30–8pm.

Expect founder pitches, the chance to network with around 60 other founders, investors and advisors, and a fireside chat with Ralph Weir - a deep-tech and AgTech commercial leader who's scaled hardware ventures from breakthrough science to repeatable revenue, including founding and raising Series A funding for chemical-free seed treatment technology.

‼️ Leicester Startups members go free using the code shared in WhatsApp ‼️

👉 Book here:

Guest speaker, startup pitches and networking

30/09/2026

👏 Congratulations to Leicester founder Kanoj Vora, who's been chosen as one of the first five recipients of Reed’s All About Business Entrepreneurs Fund.

Kanoj's startup Prospect AI - a sales assistant for B2B companies - won £20,000 in funding and expert mentorship through the fund launched by Reed chairman James Reed CBE to mark the recruitment company’s 66th anniversary.

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A Leicester startup Prospect AI, founded by Kanoj Vora, has been chosen as one of the first five recipients of Reed’s All About Business Entrepreneurs Fund. The fund was launched by Reed chairman James Reed CBE to mark the recruitment company’s 66th anniversary, offering £20,000 in funding and ...

29/09/2026

👋 Can you help a local founder?

Petar Ivanov is looking to hear from students, first-time founders, aspiring entrepreneurs and anyone who’s considered starting a business, as he validates a new idea called IdeaPilot.

IdeaPilot aims to turn a person’s business idea into a personalised entrepreneurship course, helping them identify the assumptions behind their idea, design small real-world experiments, speak to potential customers, and reflect on what they discover.

More details:

Leicester founder Petar Ivanov is looking to hear from students, first-time founders, aspiring entrepreneurs and anyone who’s considered starting a business, as he validates a new idea called IdeaPilot. IdeaPilot aims to turn a person’s business idea into a personalised entrepreneurship course, ...

16/09/2026

📅 Save the date 📅

Our Autumn Networking Mixer & Social is coming to Canopy on Thursday 8th October, 5:30–8pm.

Our guest speaker is Ralph Weir, a deep-tech and AgTech commercial leader who's scaled hardware ventures from breakthrough science to repeatable revenue, including founding and raising Series A funding for chemical-free seed treatment technology.

Expect founder pitches, and the chance to network with around 60 other founders, investors and advisors.

‼️ Leicester Startups members go free using the code shared in WhatsApp ‼️

👉 Grab your spot:

Guest speaker, startup pitches and networking

15/09/2026

The wait’s over – our 9th Accelerator cohort has landed!

Over the next 12 weeks, this group of founders will be diving into everything from customer development and pricing to fundraising and pitching, working towards Demo Day this December.

As always, it’s a genuinely diverse mix of sectors, different stages, different problems being solved, so let’s meet our 10 newest startups 👇

🚀 Rahul M., WurksyAI Ltd

WurksyAI helps universities regulate students’ AI use in assignments safely and transparently, ensuring it remains within university rules and AI policy

🚀 Jonathan OBrien, Obrioxia

Obrioxia is an accountability layer for high-risk AI decisions, capturing a mathematically verifiable record of what an AI did and why, so decisions can be audited and defended after the fact.

🚀 Samuel Lasisi, Conectr

Conectr helps creators and experts understand their audience more intelligently, build stronger relationships and turn their knowledge into a growing business.

🚀 Bloombuddy

Bloombuddy is an AI-powered maternal health and wellness app designed to support women and their partners through their reproductive journey – our AI tailors the experience to you, so no two users’ journeys are ever the same.

🚀 Jono Mayes, bar.made.

bar.made. connects bars and venues with drinks brand representatives across the UK, acting as an intelligence layer for modern bars.

🚀 Emmanuel Leslie Addae, StartSprint

StartSprint is an interactive quiz learning platform helping students master subjects like maths, science and English through engaging challenges with instant feedback and adaptive learning.

🚀 Cameron Murrell, Zyverno

Zyverno is a frontline hiring platform for sectors like care, logistics and hospitality, using AI screening to give managers a scored shortlist while ensuring every applicant gets a reply.

🚀 Ryan white, Mimic Motion

Ryan White’s Mimic Motion aims to transform babies sleep with technology that mimics the same effect as riding in a car.

🚀 Kalindi Suchak, KindHours

KindHours is a venue discovery platform that helps people find places that match their sensory preferences—so they can feel more comfortable wherever they go.

02/09/2026

EdgePetrol have opened a Leicester branch, with Leicester Startups member Krishna Dhakan-Bush joining as Senior Product Manager.

EdgePetrol provides real-time pricing and margin data for independent fuel retailers, helping them make more accurate pricing decisions, while EdgeData Pro offers wider market insights for wholesalers, retailers and investors across the fuel sector.

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EdgePetrol have opened a Leicester branch, with Leicester Startups member Krishna Dhakan-Bush joining as Senior Product Manager. Krishna is now based at Gresham Works, in Leicester city centre, which will serve as the company’s HQ for product, finance and compliance, as well as a base for visiting...

31/08/2026

Happy Bank Holiday! 🎉

Hope you're making the most of the long weekend.

One thing to keep on your radar before it slips by: applications for our 9th Accelerator cohort close this Thursday, 3rd September.

If you've got a working prototype or MVP, ideally with some active users, and you're ready for 12 weeks of workshops, roundtables, mentoring and free co-working space at Canopy - this is FOR YOU!

👉 Apply before Thursday: https://lnkd.in/gqX3ugn

27/08/2026

Female founders across the East Midlands are being encouraged to apply for HER Pitch 2026, a new competition from TechEM offering the chance to pitch for an exclusive business growth package.

The competition is open to founders at any stage, from early idea through to MVP or early revenue.

More here:

Female founders across the East Midlands are being encouraged to apply for HER Pitch 2026, a new competition from TechEM offering the chance to pitch for an exclusive business growth package. The competition is open to founders at any stage, from early idea through to MVP or early revenue. It marks....

24/08/2026

“We’ve found someone who understands not only how to build sophisticated AI systems, but why this technology matters."

Congratulations to Leicester AI startup ART OF THINKING Ai, which has completed its founding team with the appointment of a Co-Founder and Technical Director they met through our Incubator.

Edward Brown joins as co-founder and Technical Director, teaming up with founders Lizzie Soden and Dr Greg Scorzo.

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A Leicester AI startup has completed its founding team with the appointment of a Co-Founder and Technical Director they met through the Leicester Startups Incubator. Art of Thinking AI (AOT-AI) has appointed Ed Brown as co-founder and Technical Director, joining founders Lizzie Soden and Dr Greg Sco...