Iceotope founder launches South Yorkshire tech Venture.Community with £100 million funding goal

Venture.Community is the brainchild of tech entrepreneur Peter Hopton, the founder of data centre cooling company Iceotope and VeryPC, which provides sustainable computers and IT systems to schools and businesses globally. Iceotope has raised over £58 million in venture funding since its formation.

Hopton has created a new approach for supporting tech founders that he believes is unique. Instead of a traditional accelerator that limits both the duration of support and the number of participants supported, Venture.Community will provide resources and a rolling program of education and events open to any founder who wants to access them. Start-ups with the most potential will receive mentorship from experienced founders in the community and support achieving specific outcomes, such as funding.

The network’s concept has been developed over the last two years through mentorships focused on supporting strategy, fundraising and executive team building with five start-ups, including Productive Machines, BOW and TUBR, which raised more than £5 million in funding between them in the period.

Venture.Community has already established a community of more than 175 tech founders through a dedicated events arm led by Nick Dytczak Midworth and is delivering several events as part of UK Tech Week with Sheffield Digital, the association for people and businesses in Sheffield's digital industries.

Venture.Community aims to become self-sustaining through supporters, partners, sponsorships and success fees. It has curated a roster of venture capital and service provider partners with a proven track record of helping tech start-ups achieve their goals. They include Squire Patton Boggs, Fuel Ventures, SFC Capital, EHE, Finance Yorkshire, Anticus Partners, AngelGroups, Medici Global Ventures, UK Business Angels Association, Sedulo, Creative Space Management, Roaring Mouse Public Relations, British Blockchain & Frontier Technologies Association, Pinpoint Ventures and Mantra Media.

“This is a new approach to tech acceleration that is scalable, sustainable and open to all ventures and venturers," said Peter Hopton, Founder and Convenor-in-Chief of Venture.Community. "Sheffield and South Yorkshire is the UK’s secret start-up capital and probably the most collaborative tech ecosystem on the planet. This is the perfect place to pilot Venture.Community.”