Eight University of Bristol start-up companies, based in the SETsquared Business Acceleration Centre in Bristol, were among twenty technology companies pitching to investors in the fifth annual SETsquared Partnership showcase.

The event, aimed at raising investment for early-stage companies, was held in London last week and attracted an audience of 120 venture capitalists, angel investors and wealthy individuals.

Peter Davies, managing director of YFM Group, said: "SETsquared does a fantastic job in preparing early-stage businesses. We’ve already invested in five of them and, after today’s presentations, we’re looking seriously at another one."

Abdul Guefor, Managing Director (EMEA) of Intel Capital, added: "These were very good quality presentations. Four of the companies that presented are relevant to our investment strategy and we will be following up with two of them immediately."

Xintronix, one of the companies, produces semiconductor chip technology that will make computer USB connections run at 5 gigabits per second, more than 10 times faster than they do today. Its technology will provide the lowest cost and lowest power consumption for devices in this multi-billion-pound market.

Seeking investment for the online Journal of Unlikely Science, Null Hypothesis revealed how its website, recently described by the Daily Telegraph as ‘the Private Eye of the science community’, has become one of the top five science portals on the internet. Null Hypothesis was developed by three postgraduates (Mark Steer, Andrew Impey and David Hall) from the School of Biological Sciences at the University. It negotiated a national contract with Borders Bookshops and built up a subscription base all over the world. Then, in 2006, it moved to an online-only format to maximize revenue potential and to reach a global audience.

Gnodal Ltd, the third of the Bristol companies taking part, looks set significantly to improve high-speed network performance for data centres. The company was set up by Fred Homewood, a Visiting Fellow at the University, local entrepreneurs, and Matt Hatch, a graduate of the University, who came to the Centre as a mentor but, after spotting Gnodal’s business potential, joined it is as co-founder. 

Other Bristol companies exhibiting at the event included Bioinduction, DocCom Solutions, Silicon Basis, Eclat Ltd, Mybuilder.com and Immentrum.

The showcase event was run by the SETsquared Partnership, which supports early-stage businesses through the Universities of Bath, Bristol, Southampton and Surrey.