Hill Street hatches plans with LEVELUP prize

A hospitality pop-up incubator has been selected from 12 Northern Irish start-ups to be named overall winners of LEVELUP 2021.

Delivered by Startacus in partnership with Derry City and Strabane District Council, LEVELUP 2021 was a two-day hybrid event which took place on 21st and 22nd April, looking at innovation, ideas and inspiration from around the world.

The event was part of the programme for Enterprise Week Derry Strabane and explored how people, both locally and internationally, have created opportunity, economic growth and initiated real change.

Hill Street Hatch are a pop-up space in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter offering a creative partnership for entrepreneurs in the local hospitality scene to test and launch new concepts and ideas.

Co-founders of the start-up, Ema O’Kane and Ryan Crown, scooped the £2,000 cash prize after their virtual pitch impressed a panel of industry professionals and investors during Derry-Strabane Enterprise Week in April.

LEVELUP judge Judge Naomi Timperley praised the winning pitch: “Love love love this concept – great pitch and passion.

“A great idea to ‘try before you buy’ for the hospitality industry. So many restaurant concept ideas crash and burn and this is a way of trialling the concepts first and building an audience.”

Catch-up on LEVELUP and other Enterprise Week events here.