Founders. You've found us.

Why join Akcela?

The Akcela incubator was set up by experienced founders who have started and scaled their own businesses. Incubated companies get access to their time, their brains, and their networks. This helps startups move faster, and stay focused on the things that really add value in the early days.

Why do I need an incubator?

Starting a business comes with a laundry list of things you need to work on: business plan and vision; raising investment; product-market fit; sales & marketing; legal & IP stuff; software engineering; building operations and hiring people; building culture and showing leadership.

If you’re great at all of these, lucky you. If there are areas where you could use hands-on support then an incubator could be the right choice.

What's the deal?

We typically incubate companies for 12-18 months. You get deskspace and access to all the meeting rooms, facilities and coffee you need to make a home in our offices.

Each week you get time from the Akcela team to help you work through your priorities. This isn’t arms-length mentoring, it’s hands-on help to get things moving.

You pay nothing. We exchange our services for a small equity stake in your company. That means our goals are aligned with yours: we are all focused on building a happy, profitable business that makes an impact in the world.

Our network is your network

Norwich has a fantastic startup scene with lots of really valuable communities, networks and events that connect early-stage companies with the help they need. We’re your front door into all of this.

We’ve built up relationships with local and national investors to help connect you with investment and funding.

We work really hard at building community. There are regular meet-ups and workshops at our offices, and we can help you make connections in the tech, design and marketing communities in the region.

Get the help you need with

Strategy

Vision and mission; business plan; growth strategy; KPIs and targets

Money

Financial forecasts; raising investment; cashflow and runway; M&A

Management

Hiring and firing; people and pay; share schemes; culture and leadership

Operations

Internal processes and workflows; outsourcing; legal and Companies House stuff

What our founders say

Things moved so fast for us once we joined Akcela. We grew our bootcamp student numbers 20x in the year after launch. We moved from regional to national scale faster than we dared hope.

Kate Yarbo

COO, Tech Educators

Companies we work with

A great incubation space brings together exciting businesses to share experiences, challenges and wins. Creating the path to reaching your full potential.