⚡ How did this Start-Up turn Textiles into a Tech Pioneer?
Morning Innovators ⚡ In less than 5 minutes, we’ll cover…
🥳 The best funding opportunities, events and jobs in the Start-Up world this week
📰 This week’s biggest news stories in the Start-Up world
⚙️ How did this Start-Up turn textiles into a tech pioneer?
📸 How you can get a world-class product shoot for free
🗣 A tool that enables you to translate any app in seconds
✨ Last weeks most clicked link was this link taking you to Soapbox, a tool that enables Founders to publish a golden source of their venture funding round online in a digestible format which they are proud to share.
🥳 Before we get into this week’s newsletter filled with opportunities, we packed out the room with over 100 Founders at our Cardiff event last night - thank you all for coming! This event was fully booked within a day of release, with over 100 people on the waitlist. If you want to come along to our next Cardiff event on the 9th of April with exited Founder James Taylor at Kuku, you can grab a ticket here!
Happy hustling,
Rich
🎤 Events/Opportunities
🧑⚕️ Evio is looking to invest $250,000 into various health related businesses, see more here!
📣 Silicon Gorge has opened applications for their pitch competition, open to Founders in the South West of the UK raising up to £2m - you can apply here!
🧫 Altitude Lab are looking to invest up to $250,000 in Pre-Seed BioTech companies, you can apply here!
💼 Start-Up Jobs
💍 Senior Ruby Engineer, Reedsy
🧾 SMB Account Executive, Sybill AI
🧑🎨 Product Designer, GoCertify
🔋 Northvolt sells industrial battery business to Scania Sifted
🧑🍼 IVF Insurance Start-Up Future Family promises a baby or your money back TechCrunch
🚀 Karman+ digs up $20m to build an asteroid-mining autonomous spacecarft TechCrunch
🏦 Chase UK leapfrogs Starling and Monzo in CMA league tables. UKTN
Carta is a platform that helps people manage equity, build businesses and invest in the companies of tomorrow. Our mission is to unlock the power of equity ownership for more people in more places. Carta is trusted by more than 40,000 companies, over 8,000 investment funds and a million employees for cap table management, venture capital solutions and more. In the UK, we support founders who are raising money through SEIS/EIS, helping with Advance Assurance, round modelling and more. To find out more, take a look at their website, or get in touch with jack.lemon@carta.com.
We all know that Start-Ups are built on a shoe-string budget, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get creative!
The Founders over at Sunnest didn’t think renting out a studio and paying top dollar for a professional product photoshoot, so how did they get A* quality photos of their product? Simple, they headed over to Ikea to use all of the ready made sets and stands for their product shoot.
Using an IPhone and all of Ikea’s furniture sets, the Founders were able to do their whole product shoot for free, saving huge cash in the process. Not only did they save money, but it also caused them to go mega viral. They documented the whole process on this TikTok video, which ended up getting over 1.3 million views.
Where could you take your products for a free photoshoot?
Each week we highlight our favourite tools - either something we’ve been using in our businesses, or tools that our innovator community have recommended.
Lingo.dev is an AI Localisation Engine. It turns weeks of translation work into automated pull requests. Built by developers for developers, it produces authentic translations by understanding UI elements' placement and micro-context.
FullyOps: Revolutionising Asset Management and Field Services
FullyOps is a B2B SaaS platform that is transforming the way businesses manage industrial machinery, maintenance, and field services. Designed to automate maintenance, support, and sales operations, FullyOps provides a streamlined, digital-first solution for companies that rely on industrial equipment.
In industries where machine downtime can mean massive financial losses, FullyOps is replacing outdated, paper-based processes with a fully automated, intelligent platform. The goal? To minimise downtime, improve efficiency, and ensure seamless equipment maintenance—all in one place.
But FullyOps isn’t just another software tool. It’s built by people who truly understand the challenges of industrial maintenance.
The Origins of FullyOps: A Founder’s First-Hand Experience
FullyOps was founded by Pedro, a third-time entrepreneur with deep roots in the industrial sector. Before launching FullyOps, he ran a textiles manufacturing business, where he faced the frustrations of machine maintenance first-hand.
Running a manufacturing business meant relying on complex industrial machinery. But every time a machine broke down, Pedro encountered the same issues:
- Lack of reliable maintenance services
- Frequent machine downtime
- Messy, manual paperwork for tracking repairs
He tried to find a simple, effective solution, but nothing on the market met his needs. Every option was either too complex, too expensive, or simply not designed for real-world manufacturing businesses.
That’s when Pedro realised he wasn’t alone.
After speaking with other business owners, he found that many were still relying on paper records, scattered spreadsheets, and outdated systems to manage their equipment. There was no centralised platform that could automate maintenance and support while also improving operational efficiency.
So, instead of waiting for someone else to build the solution, he decided to build it himself.
His mission? To turn all that paperwork into a powerful digital platform—one that would eliminate inefficiencies, reduce machine downtime, and bring industrial maintenance into the modern era.
And so, FullyOps was born.
Building the First Product: From Paper to Digital
Pedro’s approach to building FullyOps was deeply practical and hands-on.
Instead of developing software in isolation, he went directly to businesses to understand their pain points. He sat down with industrial business owners, walked through their maintenance processes, and identified key bottlenecks.
By analysing their workflows, he spotted opportunities for automation and ways to digitise maintenance processes without disrupting daily operations.
The result?
A simple yet powerful platform that could:
- Track and automate equipment maintenance
- Reduce downtime with predictive analytics
- Streamline support and sales operations
- Provide a centralised system for managing industrial assets
Once the first version of FullyOps was ready, it was time to find its first customer.
Getting the First Customers: The Power of Industry Connections
One of the biggest advantages Pedro had was his existing network in the industrial sector. Having run a business that relied on industrial machinery, he already knew other business owners facing the same maintenance challenges.
Instead of launching a large marketing campaign, he took a direct, personal approach:
- He reached out to his industry contacts.
- He visited their factories and offices.
- He examined their current maintenance processes.
- He showed them how FullyOps could make their lives easier.
Rather than selling a product, he focused on solving real problems.
This hands-on approach worked.
Pedro’s contacts started using FullyOps, testing the system and providing valuable feedback. Through this iterative process, he was able to refine the platform and turn early adopters into loyal customers.
This method not only helped FullyOps gain traction, but also ensured that the platform was built for real-world industrial use cases.
Finding the Right Co-Founder: A Serendipitous Meeting
As FullyOps started gaining momentum, Pedro knew that for the business to scale, he needed a strong co-founder with a background in sales.
But rather than going on a lengthy search, he found his co-founder through a mutual friend.
During a casual catch-up, Pedro mentioned that he was looking for someone to lead FullyOps’ sales strategy. His friend immediately thought of someone—a former accounts professional who had recently left her career and was hungry for a new challenge in sales.
The two met up, and within 30 minutes, Pedro knew she was the right fit.
With Catia’s hunger for sales and Pedro’s deep industry knowledge, FullyOps had the perfect leadership team to drive growth.
Next week I’ll be highlighting another awesome Start-Up, as well as sharing all the usuals including funding opportunities, Start-Up news, plus plenty of awesome tips, tricks and tools.
P.S. Connect with me on LinkedIn…
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