2010 Education Investor Awards finalists
We are pleased to announce that Bridges Ventures and two of our portfolio companies, New Career Skills and School Stickers, are finalists for the 2010 Education Investor Awards.
Bridges Ventures is a finalist for Investor of the Year, New Career Skills has been shortlisted in the Post 16 Education Provider category and School Stickers was shortlisted for Use of Educational Technology.
The Education Investor Awards will celebrate innovation and excellence in the UK's education industry. In each category the judges will be looking for the organisations and individuals that have demonstrated these qualities over the last 12 months.
As a mission driven investor, education and training is a key sector for Bridges Ventures and we have a team dedicated to finding and evaluating those investments. We have maintained a long term focus on the sector since our first education investment in School Stickers by Venture Fund I in 2006 and now have three investments in the sector, totalling £10.6m, representing 15% of the total amount Bridges Ventures has invested to date.
School Stickers, a business that helps children to learn within a motivated environment, is the leader in secondary school rewards that provide integrated motivational programmes for teachers and pupils. It:
- uses traditional print based products, such as stickers and postcards, combined with online functions tailored to both students and teachers to deliver a market leading, cost effective solution
- is the only reward company of its kind with a certification
- is trusted by over 3,500 schools and more than 400,000 pupils
- recently launched Carrot Rewards www.carrotrewards.co.uk to help teachers reward and motivate students in a more engaging way
- allows teachers to customise their schools rewards programme such as enabling them to set up competitions specifically tailored to their school, and report on key behavioural data
New Career Skills is a vocation focused training provider for individuals wanting to develop or change their career path. We have worked closely with them, since we invested in February 2008, to build up the management team and grow their business. Innovations in 2009/10 include:
- domestic Green Engineer course
- installation and maintenance of domestic renewable technologies including solar hot water, heat pumps, rain / grey water harvesting, solar PV
- free training workshops in green technology and other continuous professional development courses
- on-line job search facility for qualified students
- career search service to assist graduates in starting their own businesses
- in-house finance packages for students enabling them to get access to training in a more difficult economic environment
- peer support community programme for students and graduates
The awards will be judged by an independent panel of industry experts, and presented at a ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on 16th November.
For a full list of finalists please click here 2010 Education Investor Awards finalists