Two Sheffield start-ups win Northern tech pitch contest

Two Sheffield firms are among ten of the North of England's most promising tech start-ups.
Jonny Turner, director of operations at Sport:80, on stage at the Northern Stars competition.Jonny Turner, director of operations at Sport:80, on stage at the Northern Stars competition.
Jonny Turner, director of operations at Sport:80, on stage at the Northern Stars competition.

Sport80 and Tutora were crowned ‘Northern Stars’ after a tough competition which attracted 200 applicants and 20 finalists.

They went head-to-head to pitch their business in front of four judges and a 300-strong audience at the event run by Tech North.

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The winners will now receive a prize package designed to raise their profile, help them meet investors and build networks, including a trip to TechCrunch Disrupt in Berlin.

Sport:80 is a cloud-based platform enabling sports organisations to simplify how they work and deliver online services. It provides sporting national governing bodies with access to technology designed to provide data security, drive revenue and improve customer engagement. It provides one point of entry for people whether they are staff, coaches, officials, athletes or volunteers.

Tutora helps parents find the best local tutors for private, one-to-one tuition. The platform covers every subject and every age, across the whole of the UK. Using student reviews and a powerful algorithm, it claims to bring ‘trust and transparency’ to the £6bn UK tuition industry.

More than 100,000 lessons have been taught through the Tutora platform, by almost 10,000 tutors. Earlier this year, the firm raised £700,000 by crowdfunding.

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Esme Caulfield of Tech North said: “Initiatives like Northern Stars help us to showcase the wealth of digital talent we have across the region.

“This year’s winners are true innovators and I look forward to working with our Northern Stars to help them to develop and reach their full potential”