Engine Shed renews partnership with Geovation to give start-ups in the South West access to national location data and expertise

Start-ups in Bristol and the South West can receive specialist data support from Ordnance Survey (OS) and HM Land Registry (HMLR) through enterprise hub Engine Shed’s partnership renewal with OS’s innovation arm, Geovation.

Geovation supports start-ups who are using location or property data in their offering. The partnership provides Engine Shed’s network partners a range of benefits to join its community for free, including access to OS and HMLR data, expert business advice and mentorship, weekly tech surgery drop-in sessions by Geovation’s software developer team, and free London desk space at its hub in EC1.

Head of Engine Shed Marty Reid said: “Since our partnership with Geovation began in early 2019 we have introduced a number of Bristol start-ups to Geovation and provided space for geospatial workshop sessions and meetups. This partnership renewal will continue to help ambitious early stage companies access valuable data and expertise to develop their offer and make an impact.”

Geovation Partnership & Outreach Manager Luke Hampson said: “Location data is often likely to be implicit or explicit ingredients to scalable solutions. We have a successful track record in helping our start-ups design and launch ventures whose purpose is to generate positive impact, and we’re delighted to continue our partnership with Engine Shed, as we know they hold a similar vision and ethos to ours.”

Geovation runs an Accelerator Programme that supports early stage start-up companies. The initiative has supported 117 companies to date, helping them launch innovative digital products and services to their respective markets, which in turn has seen them raise more than £77M in third-party funding, creating 484 new jobs.

One of the companies to have benefited from Geovation’s help is Bristol’s DronePrep, a platform that supports drone flights. DronePrep recently assisted in the UK’s first medical drone deliveries.

CEO of DronePrep Gareth Whatmore said: “In the early stages of our product build and validation we found receptive clients and partners in the form of Bristol City Council, Bristol Film Office and the University of West England. All of these connections and subsequent growth was made possible by the fabulously supportive teams at Engine Shed and Geovation.”

Another Bristol-based company to make use of the partnership is Atmo, who provides air quality monitoring for heavy industry.

Atmo Founder, Guy Barkley said: We met Geovation at Engine Shed and applied to their funded Accelerator Programme. We found the support on geo-location data super useful and appreciated the financial backing, especially given there is no requirement for equity.”