New Eagle Lab partnership gives start-ups a boost
BARCLAYS has opened up an Eagle Lab in Cardiff in a bid to give a boost to the start-up and scale-up communities.
Cardiff is one of 14 Eagle Labs Barclays has opened, after success in locations such as Salford, London and Edinburgh.
The 120 seat co-working site, which was opened in partnership with Legal & General, will be the home to high growth businesses with access to Maker Space facilities supporting rapid prototyping and product development.
With occupancy rates already above 30% prior to the official opening, including local companies such as Sure Chill and the Digital Maverick, and home to the IoT Accelerator Wales, demand is already proving strong.
Ashok Vaswani, CEO of Barclays UK Banking said: “The Barclays Eagle Lab business incubator has been successfully launched in 13 other major cities across the UK, some by regenerating unused Barclays premises; and others by partnering in the regeneration of city buildings.
Our investment will bring benefits far beyond a shared workspace and much further afield than Cardiff.
“This new Barclays Eagle Lab in the heart of Cardiff will help Welsh entrepreneurial companies to scale up and accelerate their growth locally and into international markets.
“We recognise the importance of supporting entrepreneurs, startups and accelerating high growth companies, and the vital role they play in creating a sustainable, prosperous Welsh economy.”
The space at Brunel House, will be designed around the needs of local entrepreneurs, businesses and communities and tailored to suit Wales’ strength in hi-tech digital and IoT (Internet of Things) innovation.
Technical partner RS Components will be providing a range of equipment and development platforms such as a LoRaWAN and Sigfox base station to support IoT product testing and access to digital fabrication tools such as rapid prototyping facilities including 3D printers and laser cutting equipment, and educational workshops along with access to their DesignSpark community.
Nigel Wilson, CEO of Legal & General, said: “This joint venture with Barclays, based in our office in Cardiff, is another example of how we are actively supporting individuals, entrepreneurs and businesses to innovate and expand their digital and technological capability.”
Nigel Saunders, CEO at Sure Chill based at the Cardiff Eagle Lab, said: “Sure Chill is a fast growing company with a groundbreaking technology that is changing the way people cool around the world. Currently in a stage of rapid growth, we needed a location that was agile enough to suit our expansion, yet with state of the art facilities to continue our innovative product development.
“With collaboration, innovation, and flexibility at its core, we quickly decided Barclays Eagle Lab was an ideal home for us. Barclays has also added great value by providing introductions to their extensive list of contacts and connections.”