Guernsey Businesses Growing Globally

This year marked the launch of the Digital Greenhouse’s latest initiative, the Global Growth Programme. It is designed to accelerate the growth of Guernsey-grown businesses into national and global markets. Partnering with venture builders Blenheim Chalcot, the six-month programme includes masterclasses, workshops, and mentorship alongside other tangible growth opportunities. It brought together six innovative startups, all graduates of other Digital Greenhouse programmes, including the Guernsey Venture Challenge, united by a shared vision of reaching global markets. The businesses, spanning sectors like healthtech, eventtech, and marinetech, are prime examples of the entrepreneurial spirit and innovation driving Guernsey’s tech landscape. 

Over the course of the programme, the founders have worked on key growth strategies, including scaling sales funnels and building strategic partnerships, all with the support of expert mentors. This personalised guidance has helped each startup focus on their next phase of expansion, ensuring its products can thrive in global markets.

A significant milestone was the Co-Construction Forum at Scale Space in London at the beginning of October, where the founders participated in a series of workshops with industry experts to refine their growth strategies. Many remarked that the forum accelerated months of business development in a single day. Additionally, all of the businesses also had the invaluable opportunity to pitch at the Home Grown Investor Club in London, raising awareness of their businesses and connecting with potential investors.

The programme culminated this month as the startups headed to Lisbon to attend Web Summit - the world’s largest tech festival. They had the opportunity to engage with industry leaders, attend keynotes from tech experts, and connect with businesses and investors from across the world.

We caught up with some of the businesses that have taken part in this year’s Global Growth Programme:  

Crewdentials

Crewdentials is a personnel onboarding and credential management platform specialising in the maritime sector. Improving compliance and efficiencies whilst reducing regulatory and operational risks. Millions of seafarers worldwide are integral to world trade and are highly qualified to ensure the safety and security of the vessels that are workplaces, homes and trade facilitators.

Current solutions and processes for onboarding seafarers and managing their credentials are manual and fragmented. Crewdentials is digitising the collation, verification and management of seafarer credentials through our onboarding and compliance management tools. They offer an industry-first combination of an individual crew profile and a business workspace: completely independent but seamlessly integrated.

Ellen Armsden - Co-Founder of Crewdentials said: 

“The most valuable part of the programme for us has been to have a highly experienced mentor to discuss thoughts about our strategy with and then see how that relates directly to the business theory that we’ve learnt in the masterclasses. It means we have been able to evaluate, identify areas of focus and prioritise activity to accelerate our growth.”

UniteVerse

The UniteVerse app is a transformative platform designed to revolutionise the way people discover and engage with nightlife and events. It’s not just an app; it’s a gateway to a world of experiences, tailored to each user’s unique preferences and interests. Their mission is to give users a more inclusive experience by creating a safe environment for everyone to enjoy, review and improve nightlife. 

Adrian Norman - Co-Founder of UniteVerse said: 

“The Digital Greenhouse is a fantastic initiative, especially for a community like Guernsey. I've met some great people on the Global Growth Programme and have found the team at the Digital Greenhouse to be very supportive.”

EaseeDo

EaseeDo is a software platform for fostering independence and managing anxiety. It enables individuals to navigate daily challenges more effectively, unlock their full potential, and improve their overall well-being. Inspired by personal experience, the founders created a platform that enables easy and fast creation of visual timetables and guides tailored to an individual's needs and a way for those individuals to track and communicate how they are feeling. 

The visual resources are accessed with the app; they support organisation and task completion, fostering independence. With the platform, family, friends and professionals can collaborate, providing cohesive support. The app's emotion tracking feature helps manage anxiety, giving parents and carers clear insight into where support is working and where more support is needed.

Trevor Nicholls - Founder of Easeedo:

“Since throwing ourselves head-first into the entrepreneurial journey in 2021, here are some thoughts, “There’s no such thing as an overnight success” and “If it were easy, everybody would do it”. It is 2024, and we are still on the journey, as committed as ever. We’ve learned a lot along the way, made huge progress, and had great experiences. Some notable high points are second-place winners of the inaugural Guernsey Venture Challenge in 2022 and being involved in the Guernsey innovation community and events organised by the Digital Greenhouse.”