Kollider Incubator powered by Barclays Eagle Lab opens its doors in Sheffield

Barclays and Kollider have officially launched their new digital and tech incubator in Sheffield. Kollider Incubator powered by Barclays Eagle Lab is a space specifically designed for businesses and ambitious entrepreneurs to scale quickly.

Located at Kollider’s space in Castle House, Sheffield, and combining the innovative Barclays Eagle Lab model with Kollider’s incubator success, the Lab will support entrepreneurs and fledgling businesses in Yorkshire as they look to create, innovate and grow.

The opening of the new Eagle Lab in Sheffield follows the creation in 2018 of a new business unit at Barclays called Barclays UK (BUK) Ventures. BUK Ventures has an independent mandate to deliver new customer experiences at pace and scale – ultimately driving growth for communities, businesses and Barclays – and is responsible for growing the Eagle Lab network. Sheffield is the 22nd Eagle Lab launched by Barclays, following successful sites in locations including London, Liverpool, Cambridge and Cardiff.

Commenting on the news, Neil Bradburne, Barclays Business Banking Area Manager, said: “We are very proud to be launching Kollider Incubator powered by Barclays Eagle Lab in Sheffield. It gives Yorkshire’s entrepreneurs a great opportunity to access support and guidance in order to scale their business, and we are equipped to help them grow and compete on a world stage.

“Sheffield is our third Eagle Lab in the Yorkshire region and as a partner, Kollider are as passionate about supporting businesses as we are. Barclays experts are able to provide the mentoring, connections and collaborations required for Yorkshire’s businesses to flourish.

“Sheffield is an exciting digital hub with huge growth potential. Our new Eagle Lab, which forms part of our wider growth strategy in Yorkshire to help businesses and entrepreneurs to develop, will help stimulate economic growth and create jobs in the local area and across Yorkshire.”

Over the last three years, Kollider Projects has been working on a strategic plan that aims to deliver on social and economic regeneration.

Castle House is an iconic 1960’s listed building, previously home to the former Co-op department store.

Located in Castlegate, the historic heart of the city centre, Castle House is in close proximity to the archaeological site of Sheffield Castle. Since the Co-op department store closed in 2008 and the once lively focal point of the city, Castle Markets, relocated to The Moor, Castlegate has experienced a period of demise.

Kollider Projects has unified key people across the city to deliver a project that encourages sustainable growth through the activation of key physical assets, by creating jobs and providing an environment where people are connected and businesses can flourish.

Castle House spans across 4 floors with 80,000 sq ft of space, the development comprises of a number of key parts that co-exist to create an exciting new destination.

Nick Morgan, of Kollider, added: “We are really excited to officially open the Kollider Incubator powered by Barclays Eagle Lab., At Kollider, we exist to support and enable people with great ideas, providing the physical environment and wide-ranging business, creative and technical advice to support them in developing and growing their own successful digital and tech business.

“The desire to build a supportive and empowering environment is matched with a desire to raise ambitions of our people and challenge for better. Our ultimate goal is to develop real businesses that in turn inspire others and grow a new economic engine for the City. The Barclays Eagle Labs team and wider Barclays community are a critical partner in powering these outcomes.

“The Incubator forms an important destination at Castle House, an 80,000 sq ft tech, digital, social and experiential project which we all believe has the power to act as a catalyst for the economic, social, physical and cultural regeneration in a key part of the city.”

For more information on Barclays’ Eagle Labs: https://labs.uk.barclays/

Notes to editor

About Eagle Labs

Eagle Labs are Barclays spaces to help entrepreneurs and ambitious businesses collaborate, innovate and grow. Eagle Labs aim to cultivate a community of likeminded entrepreneurs and provide them with access to a collaborative environment, peer networks, and opportunities to maximise growth. Eagle Labs also offer support to established larger organisations, developing programmes to help corporates create an entrepreneurial culture by introducing innovative practices and encouraging intrapreneurship.

With 22 Eagle Labs across the country and more in the pipeline, the focus is to help accelerate UK scale-ups, promote collaborative innovation across the entire ecosystem and enable access to, and training on, new and emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, 3D-printing and the Internet of Things which make up ‘Industry 4.0’ – the fourth industrial revolution.

For further information about Barclays Eagle Labs, please visit labs.uk.barclays

About Barclays UK Ventures

Barclays UK (BUK) Ventures is a specialist business unit within Barclays with an independent mandate to deliver new customer experiences at pace and scale – ultimately driving growth for communities, business and Barclays. BUK Ventures identifies, incubates and scales transformational new business lines and business models both within and outside of Barclays through organic build-out, commercial partnerships and venture investments.

BUK Ventures comprises a strong team of intrapreneurs, including Eagle Labs, who work to create thriving communities with the aim of connecting businesses of all sizes to the networks they need to succeed.

About Kollider

Kollider is an internationalised innovation platform created to connect talent, technology and venture capital to generate, incubate and create value. We believe that people and their ideas lie at the heart of innovation; we are here to drive human performance and enable people to monetise their IP.

By attracting and facilitating early stage high growth innovative projects Kollider nurtures and scales ideas across diverse but connected sectors. Kollider is about bringing together a vibrant community of talented people, combined with great ideas, in a show-stopping place.