The BRITE Pioneers
10th October 2022
Author EditorPosted on Categories Business
Pioneers do things differently.
Last month, Plus X Brighton welcomed 15 businesses that are on their way to changing the world.
Pioneers is a two-day innovation programme created by the BRITE Project to forge partnerships between innovative small businesses and industry partners that can help them reach their goals.
This group of fresh thinkers are making changes in areas including food and drink, health and hygiene, and digital media. Together, they are learning how to scale through positive partnerships, uncovering ways to improve supply chains and be more sustainable and comparing different ways to have a positive impact.
Pioneers is a fully funded programme held at the Plus X Brighton innovation hub. The programme welcomes partners including University of Brighton, OLIO, Sky, Mathys & Squire, The Joyful, Low Carbon Leaders, Magick, Watch This Sp_ce, Shoreham Port, World of Books, and Kimberly-Clark.
If you’re part of a business looking to make a positive impact on people or the planet, the BRITE Project needs you! Join the next Pioneers cohorts in November and January. If you have any questions on Pioneers, get in touch with the BRITE team to find out more.
Introducing the Pioneers
INSPOHUB
Inspohub – Ekaterina Blake
InspoHub helps brands engage their audience online with bespoke video solutions. The broadcast and video agency was founded by Ekaterina Blake, and are trusted by leading names including Aston Martin, Klaviyo, Sony and England Rugby to deliver seamless online experiences.
SPIRITED FUTURES
Spirited Futures is a leadership academy for young changemakers and trailblazers who want to create change environmentally and socially. Through nature-based retreats, mentoring and workshops, Spirited Futures enables young people aged 18-25 to tap into their inner wisdom for purpose-led change.
Karen Stenning and the team are guided by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and have a strong purpose and values focused on helping future generations become the leaders our world needs.
IN THE LOOP DRINKS
In The Loop Drinks makes English Vermouth and ready-to-drink cocktails from their solar-powered winery in Uckfield, East Sussex. The award-winning winemakers have won multiple awards and were created with sustainability at their core.
Created in 2020 by Director Gnina Balchin, In The Loop’s products are vegan, gluten free and created to advance the circular economy. It was founded on the principle of keeping English wine ‘in the loop’ by using English wine that would have otherwise gone to waste. Alongside their eco-friendly winery and efforts to limit wine waste in the industry, In The Loop prioritises mindful packaging, sourcing biodegradable and recyclable materials.
DROP ZERO DIGITAL
Drop Zero Digital has a global team of email marketing specialists that help ecommerce brands make more impact from their emails. Tom Fenton and the remote team manage email marketing from strategy all the way through to reporting, with all of the creative bits in between.
The scaling business is joining Pioneers to connect with partners and likeminded businesses.
MENTEATH
Menteath is an award-winning British-made organic skincare and fragrance brand created by Felicity Stuart-Menteath.
Fragrances are handcrafted with wild and ethically harvested ingredients, putting sustainable farming practices and the environment at the heart of the business. Fusing traditional smoke rituals from the Middle East and Old England, Menteath brings neuroscience and skincare together.
FEMALE PERSPECTIVE
Tabatha Roberts is the Founder of Female Perspective, a photo agency that represents female talent for commercial photographic assignments. Earlier this year she launched the ShotByWomen platform as the world’s first global stock image library to house exclusively women-created content spanning all areas of photography.
Tabatha is both a photographer and agent member of the Association of Photographers, at which she sits on the working group of the f22, a group that was set up to support the AOP’s women and nonbinary members.
THE SOCIAL SOCIETY
The Social Society is on a mission to make local volunteering easy. Led by Founder Toni Finnimore, The Social Society connects businesses with grassroots charities across the UK, and lead on internal workplace programmes.
Along with making a difference in cities across Europe, The Social Society runs social events to connect people and reduce isolation and loneliness.
FUTURE HUMANITY VENTURES
Future Humanity Ventures is currently being structured as a venture builder studio that is developing social and environmental products in partnership with high value companies and people, who have a similar ethos for positive change through technology.
Founder Brian Mcilwaine has also created a subdivisional company Future Humanity Materials, a sustainable material solution supplier and consultancy. The methodologies and mindset for the venture building is taken from the accelerated product development used in motorsport.
HATSUMI
Hatsumi is a design studio that combines technology, healthcare and the arts to help people understand each other using virtual reality. This powerful work enables the communication of invisible experiences to improve cognitive empathy, and lead to faster and more accurate diagnostic outcomes.
Alongside founding Hatsumi, Sarah Ticho is also producer at Explore Deep, and Co-founder of both Lemonade and XR Health Alliance. She sits on the XR Safety Initiative Medical Council, and in her spare time is an End of Life Doula in training.
SITEVISIBILITY
SiteVisibility is a full-service digital marketing agency with offices in Brighton and London. Founded in 2001, the business has an outstanding heritage in SEO and a team dedicated to the future of marketing. Finance Manager Vicky Evans will join Pioneers to represent the agency’s strong commitment to CSR and sustainability.
SiteVisibility is Co-Founder off brightonSEO, Europe’s largest free search marketing conference, and hosts of the hugely popular Internet Marketing Podcast, which started in 2006 and has over 650 episodes.
YOCORY
Yocory is an innovative SaaS platform that combines everything freelancers, entrepreneurs, and side hustlers need to grow their business. Created to help entrepreneurs streamline their businesses, Yocory is the perfect project management tool for fast-moving small businesses.
Founder Lucia Desperati is a familiar face to the BRITE innovation project, having undertaken the INSPIRE programme previously.
GOMI + ZERO WASTE CLUB
Gomi is leading the way as a consumer technology brand that puts sustainability at the heart of design. Tom Meades and the team started out in the design world releasing the world’s first portable speaker made from “non-recyclable” trash.
Gomi and sister business, Zero Waste Club, are passionate about turning waste into circular products that will be loved for generations to come.
PERCEPT IMAGERY
Percept Imagery is an award-winning immersive technology company based in Brighton, founded by Akshay Saswade.
Their world-class augmented reality platform Sprie® lets consumers personalise online shopping experiences and drive revenue growth by letting online shoppers virtually try products before purchase.
SPRINGBOARD MEDIA
Springboard Media provides publishing and media services to global publishers and organisations across the globe. Publications include Publish My Book, Chichester Life, and Faithbuilders Publishing.
Founder David Powell set up Springboard Media with a commitment to give back. As they continue on their path to growth, they aim to help micro businesses and businesses in emerging markets with space and support. David also mentors young people to achieve their career goals.
DIGITAL SALUTEM
João Bocas, CEO of Digital Salutem, is on a mission to make health uncomplicated. Digital services include technologies such as remote patient monitoring platforms, PR and social media support, and consultancy for the healthcare industry.
Plus X Brighton member João is a well-known expert in the digital health space, sharing insights with the world through his social media channels to help further the field, with a strong focus in wearables.
The first cohort of Pioneers may just be getting started, but if you’re inspired to make positive change within your own business, the project is accepting applications for November and in early 2023.
Find out more or apply at
Pioneers is part of BRITE (Brighton Research Innovation Technology Exchange). Led by Plus X, in partnership with the University of Brighton, BRITE aims to support leaders of companies that have ambitions to grow and scale their business, receiving up to £5.5m of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund.