Travis Perkins, the UK’s largest supplier of building materials and a FTSE 250 company, and L Marks, a corporate innovation specialist and early stage investor, have teamed up to launch an accelerator program.
Travis Perkins BreakThru aims to give participants the chance to collaborate with the UK’s largest supplier of building materials, covering 22 businesses with over 2000 branches and stores across the UK, via an 11-week accelerator program.
Over the course of the program, each startup will be given the chance to validate their product or solution and receive internal support and mentorship from Travis Perkins and L Marks. Travis Perkins looks for startups that can help improve the services they offer their customers, while also challenging them internally.
Selected teams will also have the opportunity to pitch for investment from Travis Perkins and L Marks in exchange for equity.
Aread of interest include:
– Keeping People Safe: the company is looking to improve health and safety throughout its businesses, while also looking at other areas that could improve the general health and wellbeing of customers and colleagues.
– Connected Home, Work and Fleet: Travis Perkins is looking for IoT solutions that can help the group improve the connectivity of customers homes through linking different domestic appliances together, help collect its data internally and improve the management and efficiency of its fleet and workplace in order to improve predictive maintenance tools (i.e. appliance or fleet repairs), and simultaneously deliver an excellent service to customers.
– Sharing and Managing Knowledge: the company wants to find solutions that can help use and distribute this expertise effectively around its network.
– Digitizing the Customer Journey: Travis Perkins is looking for startups that can help the company improve the customer journey with new delivery options, or visual mockups of the products and services they offer through online technologies and processes.
– Wildcard: The company is looking for innovative startups who can provide solutions in B2B credit management, voice recognition technology, vehicle tracking technology, waste disposal management for products and final mile logistics.
The program will offer:
– Mentorship from the senior leadership at Travis Perkins including Cheryl Millington, Chief Digital Officer, Norman Bell, Group Strategy Director, Tony Buffin, Chief Operating Officer, Paul Tallentire, CEO General Merchanting Division, Frank Elkins, Divisional Chief Executive Officer, Contract Merchanting Division
– Access to external mentors
– Product validation and testing opportunities with Travis Perkins,
– Access to Travis Perkins scale and network, covering 22 businesses with over 2000 branches and stores across the UK
– Investment opportunities from L Marks and Travis Perkins
– Free hot desking space at key Travis Perkins locations.
Interested companies can apply within August, 2. Following the Pitch Day on September 14th, the program starts on October, 9th and finishes with the Demo Day on January, 11th, 2018.
FinSMEs
17/07/2017