Anglia Unicorn connects dots for tech start ups

Named after the mythical creature which eludes capture, a Unicorn company is a start-up that is valued at $1bn+.  The UK and Ireland based project has been a year in the making, as CEO Steve Rawlins (pictured) created a database from scratch of all UK universities with electronics courses and of venture capitalists and private equity companies who have a track record of investing in technology companies based on hardware and software. Rather than invest in a one-man-band with a clever idea, Anglia Unicorn is looking to partner financial investors – who do their research and can identify if a design has legs or commercial value – said Rawlins, with start-ups and bright ideas, with design partners.

“I’ve tried to rethink it. We are not going to get the product manufactured, but we will point the customer in the right direction and to an ems (electronic manufacturing service). We will be ems-agnostic,” Rawlins added.

“We have design partners with expertise in certain parts of circuit design – typically power, back-up management and RF, but a lot of companies’ digital engineers may need someone else to finish the RF element,” he explained. This can be expensive so we put together a list of companies that have design expertise in these areas.”

Another area is fpgas, which is used in medical devices in particular. Anglia Unicorn can connect start-ups and their backers with fpga design experts.

“It’s not an ecosystem, it’s trying to connect the right people,” is how Rawlins defined the project.

The company is targeted the 129 universities with electronics courses in robotics, autonomous systems, medical, EVs, smart social infrastructure (smart cities), virtual reality and augmented reality from the design chain to the supply chain.

University departments can approach Anglia Unicorn with an idea, receive support to develop the proof of concept, and guidance on compliance, certification, sustainability and production process compatibility as part of the design for production stage. When ready for mass production, Anglia Unicorn can make introductions to local and global manufacturing partners, provide advice on how to get the finished product to market and ensure the product has a long commercial lifetime with updates on obsolescence issues or product changes that might affect the product.

Interested companies should get in touch with Anglia to discuss their ideas in confidence.