The last 12 months have been incredibly challenging for the business community, especially for smaller companies without large cash reserves.
But there are plenty of businesses thriving amid the pandemic too, including startup firms that have adapted fast to the ever-changing landscape.
The South West is now an established tech cluster, but other industries are also flourishing across the region, including businesses in the retail, creative and food sectors.
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Here, we take a look at some of the brilliant startups finding success in the West Country that we think everyone should know about.
In no particular order...
Custom Tie Dye Socks
Plymouth’s brightest young entrepreneur is hot-footing it to business success with his latest venture – bespoke coloured socks.
David Rixon is still only aged 18 but the business studies student has already been involved in more than half-a-dozen small enterprises and is now getting his toe in the retail door by launching Custom Tie Dye Socks.
David, who is studying at Plymouth’s Achievement Training, set up the venture in December 2020 and is now seeing it taking off, with marketing help from Toby Gorniak, of Plymouth CIC Street Factory.
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With Facebook and Instagram pages, Custom Tie Dye Socks is now taking orders from across Plymouth and David is looking at selling further afield.
Data Duopoly
A Cornish tech startup which has developed an app so businesses can manage queues and social distancing is set to grow after attracting investors including the European Space Agency.
Data Duopoly is “revolutionising the visitor experience” in venues worldwide after being set up by two women in Falmouth University’s venture studio Launchpad.
It quickly received backing from several angel investors – typically high-net-worth individuals who provide finance in exchange for equity - which has unlocked further funding sending the company into the next phase of expansion.
Data Duopoly, founded by Tanuvi Ethunandan and Erin Morris, has created an app which tracks and monitors visitor distribution, reducing queues and managing bottlenecks at venues such as theatres, museums and theme parks, to give a “unique and personalised digital experience.”
Lupe Technology
Founded by two former Dyson employees, cordless vacuum brand Lupe Technology launched its Pure Cordless cleaner in July last year and appears to have got some uptake in the US.
The Chipping Sodbury-based company recently reported that 50% of its total sales so far have been across the pond, with its total turnover for the first quarter exceeding £250,000.
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In 2019 it launched a crowdfunding campaign which Initially set out to raise £75,000.
It ended up bringing in more than £560,000 from 1,760 investors. Of these, around 800 were based in North America, giving the business a solid customer base stateside in its early stages.
The environmentally-minded business, which is hoping to become carbon negative by 2023, also received support from influential Youtube channel Vacuum Wars, with a video review of their product garnering hundreds of thousands of views.
Irie Box
Kathryn Lewis founded her Caribbean fruit and vegetable recipe box service in 2020.
The company delivers items such as tropical fruit, plantain, yam, pumpkin, okra, eddoe, cassava across Bristol. The boxes also include step-by-step instructions on cooking Caribbean dishes at home.
Kathryn, who regularly shops for her Jamaican grandmother, was inspired to set up her business last year after realising some elderly people might not have anyone to shop for them during the pandemic.
“The Jamaican influence and culture during my upbringing led me to adore Caribbean food, “ she said. “As the Covid-19 pandemic hit I made the decision to shop on my Nan’s behalf so that she could still enjoy the foods she has eaten her whole life.”
She is also a member of the Black South West Network - an organisation working for race equality in the region.
Cropdesk
Dorset blueberry farmer David Trehane’s grandfather established the 海角视频’s first commercial plantation of the fruit. His own experiences out in the field have helped him to move into a new one with his tech venture Cropdesk.
The cloud computing platform helps farmers to track the progress of crop performance and farm labour use in real time, allowing them to make cost-effective decisions on future cropping and production.
The company has also launched a recruitment app for fruit pickers, called Seasonal Jobs, to help address labour shortages following the 海角视频’s exit from the European Union which have been accelerated by the global pandemic.
Mr Trehane has global ambitions for both platforms, as both are designed to be scalable, operable and useful to farms of any size in any country and in any language.
Rise Bakery
A Plymouth bakery was such a hit on its opening weekend that it had to close temporarily when it ran out of stock.
The new Rise Bakery, in the city centre’s Frankfort Gate, was inundated with hungry customers when it launched on the last weekend of February 2021. It meant it sold out of all its bread, pasties, cookies and cakes and had to close for four days until it could bake enough new stock.
“We had queues of 35 to 40 people,” said business boss and baker Lloyd Inwood. “We sold hundreds of pasties in the first weekend. We could not have asked for a better opening but got caught out by the demand. A nice problem to have though.”
The bakery which reopened on March 5, trades seven days a week, 8am to 3pm. It ramped up production at its baking unit, on an industrial site in nearby Saltash, to keep pace with demand.
Six people are employed there, and another three at the shop, but Mr Inwood said more people could earn a crust with him as he is looking to eventually set up a chain of Rise Bakery sites, in the South Hams and Cornwall, and will be launching a nation-wide delivery service, which will see its products sent across England and Wales.
Structur3dpeople
Rav Bumbra runs her own Bristol-based tech recruitment business and has developed an app, Cajigo, designed to help women develop their skills, increase confidence and feel empowered to achieve their goals.
Cajigo offers a series of mentoring videos and exercises created by senior business leaders to help users develop their careers.
“Employers want to find more female employees but often struggle to do so. They are literally coming up to us and saying: ‘where are the women?’ – now we’ve got the answer,” said Ms Bumbra, who has a 20-year consulting background.
She also sits on the Women in Business Group in Bristol and on the Advisory Board for Learning People.
In 2020, she was the winner of the WeAreTechWomen100 Tech Champion Award, which celebrate the achievements of women working in technology.
She also took part in a scheme run by the Black South West Network (BSWN) and NatWest that was aimed at helping women entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds during the pandemic.
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Knowthis
Digital design agency Knowthis has moved into Plymouth Science Park’s special Formation Zone for startup businesses.
The full-service creative digital design agency was set up in November 2019 by Ben Saul, an experienced creative lead and digital specialist.
Mr Saul has a 23-year history of helping organisations of all sizes to develop their brand and transform their organisation by delivering “impactful creative with measurable results”.
Knowthis, originally based in Tavistock, designs websites, brochures, prospectuses, e-newsletters and campaigns, and creates and refreshes brands, among other services.
Among companies it has already worked with are engineering and construction firm Red Leaf Group, cosmetic clinic Look Lovely London, and Northumberland’s Backlash Brewery.
Bluum
Marissa Lewis-Peart is a Bristol-based graphic designer and co-founder of early-stage startup Bluum.
Her company aims to simplify the curly hair care journey and experience for women who care for textured hair.
Marissa also runs a natural hair care YouTube channel, where she educates black women on textured hair care. She works with brands to review products, host events and also attends events as a guest speaker.
In 2019, Marissa was awarded the Ben Martin Apprentice Award - a prize set up in memory of the late Ben Martin, a local entrepreneurial agency boss committed to an inclusive culture and actively encouraged diversity.
She has also been awarded a scholarship on the 2020 Social Capital Network programme funded by Google.
Anaphite
Founded by scientists Sam Burrow and Alexander Hewitt, who met at university, Bristol-based Anaphite recently raised more than £1m in funding to further develop rechargeable battery technology that investors believe could accelerate the shift towards electric vehicles.
The pair have come up with what they say is an inexpensive and scalable process to incorporate graphene, a material that consists of a single layer of carbon atoms, into rechargeable battery materials on existing cell production lines, improving charge time and longevity.
The discovery has excited investors, and attracted the biggest single investment ever made by the Bristol Private Equity Club (BPEC), a group of successful entrepreneurs in the area.
Alexander Hewitt, Anaphite's chief operating officer, has said the company believes its technology will help society embrace electric transport by making batteries "cost less, charge faster and live longer."