Lightning Talks: Investor Insights From Across The Ecosystem
Following Ben’s overview of the South West’s investment landscape in Q1 2025, we then heard from key figures across the regional investment community.
The lightning speakers for the event were Ed Tellwright from the British Business Bank, Peter Stirling from STL Tech, Olly Cox from Foresight Group and Steven Bennington CEO at Q5D.
Each brought valuable insight from a different corner of the investment landscape, from funder perspectives to founder journeys, offering a well-rounded view of the challenges and opportunities shaping 2025. Here’s a quick summary of what each speaker covered.
Ed Tellwright – British Business Bank
Ed introduced a new 12-month pilot programme co-delivered with Innovate UK, designed to improve access to finance for scaling businesses across the region. The Innovation Clusters Pilot is already underway in Bristol and Bath and aims to identify what support really moves the needle for local innovation.
He explained that the pilot will run in three phases: discovery, implementation and review, with success measured via KPIs such as the number of innovative businesses supported, total capital raised and new investors engaged in the region.
Ed invited the group to contribute to the discussion during the roundtable session, specifically to help identify priority sectors, understand what support already exists and explore how the region can build on its core tech strengths.
Peter Stirling – STL Tech
Next, Peter Stirling shared insights into the formation of a new Angel Investment Group in Bath, led by STL Tech. Drawing from his own journey, having sold a family business and moved into angel investing, Peter highlighted the need for more consistent, founder-friendly capital in the South West.
He outlined the group’s mission to support early-stage and scaling businesses across Bath and beyond, with a focus on deep tech and university spinouts. The group plans to concentrate on pre-seed and seed-stage investment, helping to close the early funding gap for high-potential ventures working on meaningful technical challenges.
Peter also gave a preview of the group’s first pitch event, which will feature two startups: a new STL-backed spinout and a promising cybersecurity business. The event will serve as a testbed for the group’s ambitions, aiming to create a more reliable pipeline of local angel support and reduce over-reliance on London-based capital.
Olly Cox – Foresight Group
Olly Cox introduced the recently closed £100 million South West Fund from Foresight Group, which is now actively investing in businesses across nine counties.
The fund is designed to back a wide range of companies, typically those generating between £0.5 million and £5 million in revenue. It provides flexible capital options, from growth equity to retirement transitions, enabling business leaders to scale up or step back with the right financial support in place.
Olly also emphasised the fund’s support for early-stage businesses, with investments starting from £2 million. Sector-agnostic by design, the fund is looking for ambitious teams with strong regional roots and scalable solutions.
His message to founders was clear: Foresight is here to stay, and ready to partner long-term with companies making a real impact across the South West.
Steven Bennington – Q5D
Steven Bennington spoke about the work of Q5D, a manufacturing automation company that is transforming how wiring harnesses are made for sectors like automotive, defence and consumer electronics. Q5D’s technology enables wiring to be embedded directly onto 3D surfaces, reducing both manufacturing costs and errors, while increasing speed and precision.
The company is already working with global giants such as General Motors, Toyota and BMW, and is positioning itself as a key player in high-value manufacturing. Steve shared how Q5D is not just improving productivity, but also aiming to create well-paid, highly skilled jobs in the UK’s industrial base.
However, he highlighted a significant challenge: most of Q5D’s funding has come from North America and Japan, with very little investment available locally. He called for better incentives to activate domestic capital, including tax breaks for pension funds and ISAs.
Steve encouraged the UK to align investment policy with its ambition to be a leader in advanced manufacturing, stating that supporting companies like Q5D is essential if we want to keep innovation, value and opportunity rooted in the UK.
Tech For Good & Impact Investment
After the lightning talks, we got a preview from Dhevesh Mewawalla on an upcoming Impact Investment Report. He explained the report will examine how much of our region’s capital is driving positive social or environmental change – a crucial metric as climate tech and tech-for-good become central to growth.
