19 Northamptonshire start-ups win £1,500 and free support after making Dragon's Den-style pitch

Nineteen start-up businesses from across Northamptonshire have won a £1,500 grant and free support after having to make a Dragon's Den-style pitch.

Organic soap products, a social enterprise coffee shop, educational support and wellbeing therapy were among the winners in the Business & IP Centre Northamptonshire's Small Business Grants.

More than 150 firms applied, which were whittled down to a 34-strong who had to present themselves to a panel of judges via a video conference.

The Small Business Grants panel consisted of the BIPC Northamptonshire team and representatives from Building Business Consultancy and Northamptonshire Chamber of Commerce.

As well as the money, the winners will each receive a year's free Northamptonshire Chamber of Commerce membership, free support from the BIPC Northamptonshire and promotional profiling.

​Isabel Oswell, head of business audiences at the British Library, said: “At the British Library we’re proud to be working with a growing network of public libraries across the country to ensure that anyone with an idea can walk into their local library and take the first steps to start and grow a successful business.

"It’s wonderful to see how our partners at Northamptonshire Libraries have tailored our national Reset. Restart programme to their local small business community through the Small Business Grants.

"We congratulate the 19 winners and look forward to seeing them flourish and develop their businesses with help from this superb initiative”.

The Small Business Grants formed an additional part of the Business & IP Centre Northamptonshire’s Reset. Restart programme, part of a national programme of workshops and dedicated support for SMEs set up during the Covid-19 pandemic, led by the British Library.