Greater Things

Jof Walters will be in Glasgow on the 4th and 20th of March at RBS Accelerator in Glasgow. If you want to learn about the journey of Greater Things startups that have scaled from codeless MVP to significant raises, exists and success come along and join us. Tickets here for the 4th https://lnkd.in/ejz_ztzK Or drop in on the 20th and meet Jof for a surgery session.

The last few spaces are available for idea stage tech founders that want to get a tech business funded, built and launched in Glasgow. The Glasgow No-Code Ideas2 App programme provides investment to support the launch of startups within the Glasgow postcode. Applicants must be over the age of 18 and have a registered limited company. To apply go here: https://lnkd.in/ezwMU-2t

Greater Things provides the infrastructure that allows regions to innovate and grow. Ten years of pushing the pace of innovation and creating faster and more robust processes has created a unique methodology that now gets motivated tech founders trading in days. We knit into local ecosystems catalysing incubators and accelerators like NatWest Group and working with universities like Aston University. Our focus on execution rather than advice, and our incredibly low cost architechture has allowed us to create a new class of #digitalsme as well as starting high-growth tech businesses on their scaling journey. We would like to thank world class agile expert Nathan Davies, startup founder Freeman F. and the AI Development Squad at Design Factory Birmingham Aston University for joining us in this video.

45% of the 70 startups we have backed a founded by women. 45% of our founders come from minority ethnic backgrounds. It's a coincidence, but it's true. Industry data around underserved founders varies but is never pretty. Back in 2021 a cross-party Treasury Committee scandalised the UK by reporting that just 2% of VC funding goes to female founders and companies led by minority ethnic founders combined. In 2023 the British Business Bank equity tracker quoted 8.2% of deal numbers going to all female founding teams. At the earliest stages of investment we see far more equality in the way deals are done, but by Series A the numbers make bleak reading. Greater Things benefits from being a "First Cheque" investor and from servicing regions with more diverse and vibrant founder communities, but our biggest innovation has been in moving away from pitching and human led deal selection towards banking style application, onboarding and risk monitoring. We would encourage the rest of the industry to follow suit.

Glasgow No-Code is currently live - a programme commissioned by Glasgow City Council together with Royal Bank of Scotland Business #Accelerator, City of Glasgow College, Glasgow Clyde College, Glasgow Kelvin College and delivery partner, Greater Things. At its heart (alongside our College bootcamps), is Ideas2App - a pre-accelerator helping anyone with a bold idea turn it into a working app without writing code. Running from October 2025 to March 2026, the goal is to validate any tech founder’s idea as fast as possible by removing the personal financial strain of this critical phase and help build the technology that a tech startup business needs to trade. Who We Fund: ·        You are 18 years old or more. ·        You have, or are willing to register, a UK limited company. ·        Your registered company has a City of Glasgow postcode. ·        This funding is for the development of your Minimum Viable Product. If you want to apply for funding, you can find out more and do so here: https://lnkd.in/ezwMU-2t Feel free to repost and share with your networks. Jof Walters Evelyn McDonald Dougie Pender Iain Hay Dr Susie Mitchell Stuart McDowall DipM MCIM, FIKE John Canning Alastair McGhee Alice Bellini Heidi Simpson (nee Barnes) Darren Pirie Dominic Dowling

In 2025 Greater Things became one of the most prolific investors in UK tech businesses. We wrote a lot of the first cheques received by founders across the West Midlands, and provided them with the support they required to make an idea into a reality. We wouldn't have been able to achieve this without pioneering efforts to elevate AI Software Development into a reliable and powerful tool for innovation. Our young development squad has been as important to our success as our founders and our funders. We are a Venture Studio focussed on investment and execution rather than advice and mentorship, but our founders would not thrive without the support of some amazing incubation partners and University programmes. It doesn't take a village to change an industry, it take a nation. Its hard to thank everyone but here's a roll call of the people that made this all possible: The programme owners: Gavin Smyth, Hilary Smyth-Allen of Glasgow City Council and SuperTech WM The Delivery Partners: Design Factory Birmingham Aston University, Million Labs, Digital Glue Ltd, Julien Barney, Kate Sugden, Simon Jenner, Verena Scheffczyk, Javan Bramhall and of course Lee C. The amazing people that supported our founders: AI Simulator, Darren Pirie, Pam Sheemar CCIB J.P, Heidi Simpson (nee Barnes), Harinder Kunor, Connor McManus, Vernon Hogg, Davies Okeowo and the beautiful human being that is Ali Kazmi The wonderful educators: Stuart McDowall, John Canning, Alastair McGhee, Aimee Postle MEd MBA Chart.PR SFHEA, Dr Elinor Vettraino, Nicola Gittins, Karen Elliott, Jo Griffin and Clare Streets Our innovative squad of "Vibe Programmers": Amgad Salim, Benjamin Field, Simran Chahal, Victor Ekeh and Gibreel who may not trust Linkedin... Finally thanks to Nigel Hall who has diligently advised, Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie who has taken the tiller and the handful of amazing, insightful and brave investors who backed us to this point! See you in 2026. #venturestudio #nocode #preseed #vibecoding #startup #westmidlands #glasgow

𝗔𝗜-𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗗. HomEdTech Assist is not a content platform. It is infrastructure. Built by a former Headteacher and SEND parent, the platform addresses a rapidly growing global gap: families educating outside traditional systems with little structured, compliant tooling. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗘𝗱𝗧𝗘𝗰𝗵 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹 — with early traction, pilots, and inbound demand. This is personalised learning at scale, enabled by AI. 𝙊𝙥𝙚𝙣 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙚𝙖𝙧𝙡𝙮-𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙫𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙨 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙀𝙙𝙏𝙚𝙘𝙝, 𝘼𝙄, 𝙎𝙀𝙉𝘿 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙗𝙖𝙡 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙘𝙩. https://lnkd.in/epBi-XVb https://lnkd.in/epBi-XVb website: qsenacademy.co.uk

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Home education is often spoken about as freedom, flexibility and choice — and it is. But behind that freedom sits a workload that many families quietly carry every single week. 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀. F𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗲𝘀. A𝗱𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗦𝗘𝗡𝗗. T𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀. K𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲. Most parents are doing this across notebooks, screenshots, PDFs, bookmarks and tired evenings. This isn’t a lack of dedication or organisation — it’s a lack of infrastructure. 𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗘𝗱𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺. Instead of starting from scratch each week, families can generate bespoke lesson plans, receive tailored learning resources, use built-in assessment questions and capture progress naturally as learning happens. The outcome is clearer learning, less mental load, and confidence that what you’re doing is meaningful and visible. You’re already doing the hard part — caring deeply about your child’s learning. This platform gives you the structure to support that care. 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺: https://lnkd.in/epBi-XVb https://lnkd.in/epBi-XVb qsenacademy.co.uk

Big news for Greater Things. We are delighted to announce that Oliver von Landsberg-Sadie has joined Greater Things as CEO. Oliver founded and scaled BCB Group, now recognised as one of Europe’s leading regulated crypto payments and banking infrastructure providers. He knows what it takes to build critical technology infrastructure in complex, high-growth environments, and how to do it properly. Oliver is now bringing that experience to a different challenge: how the UK builds companies at scale in the age of AI. At a moment when the UK risks slipping down the global economic leaderboard, we believe the answer isn’t fewer ideas or more reports, it’s mass innovation. Systems that take ideas, talent, and ambition and reliably turn them into real companies, real jobs, and real economic impact. That’s what Greater Things does. We are a venture studio operating at regional scale, partnering with government, universities, and corporate sponsors to invest in and build early-stage tech businesses. We use AI-led product development to get companies to product–market fit faster, and we build our teams by upskilling local young people, creating opportunity while delivering capital-efficient venture creation. With successful programmes already delivered in Scotland and the Midlands, and a portfolio of over 70 venture investments, the platform is proven. Oliver’s mandate is to scale it, commercially and nationally, with a clear ambition to build a £100m business within three years. Jof Walters will be stepping into the role of COO, focused on venture delivery, programme execution, and operational scale. Crucially, as we grow, so does our social mission. Inclusivity, support for underserved founders, and regional economic regeneration are not side effects of our model, they are core to it. This is about more than a leadership change. It’s about building the infrastructure the UK needs to compete in an AI-driven world. More to come. SuperTech WM, Design Factory Birmingham Aston University, NatWest, RBS, West Midlands Combined Authority, West Midlands Growth Company, Minerva Business Angels, Glasgow City Council, City of Glasgow College, Glasgow Clyde College, Glasgow Kelvin College, Oxford Innovation