A scheme designed to help fledgling technology businesses secure a share of a £1m equity funding pot has been launched by Birmingham City Council.
The fund, which will be managed by Finance Birmingham, was established alongside Birmingham Science Park Aston (BSPA).
Local start-up technology entrepreneurs will pitch their ideas to a panel of senior figures from the city in a 'Dragons' Den' style project. Each business will be pitching for between £20,000 to £100,000.
Simon Jenner, head of incubation at Birmingham Science Park Aston, said: "We see a phenomenal number of really outstanding businesses coming through our e4f and Oxygen Accelerator schemes, demonstrating a massive amount of potential.
"Unfortunately, not all of these businesses go on to become profitable and we identified that a major reason for this is that while they may have outstanding and innovative ideas, they fail to secure seed funding."
The panel to which the entrepreneurs will pitch which will be led by Finance Birmingham and will feature representatives from Birmingham City Council and Birmingham Science Park Aston.
Sue Summers, chief executive of Finance Birmingham, added: "The city of Birmingham has a great pool of creative talent across the entire technology sector, however like the industry as a whole, we lack the seed funding that is necessary to give these companies the boost that they need to really get off the ground."