The Investment Activator Programme (IAP) was designed to support digital and technology companies that are raising equity investment in the South West.

The initiative launched by TechSPARK UK, is supported by seven public and private sector organisations including TLT, Engine Shed, Sanderson, UWE Bristol, The West of England Combined Authority, Delaware & Rocketmakers.

In the last few years Bristol has seen a dramatic rise in the level of investment into the city’s businesses and in 2019 outperformed the likes of Dublin, Zurich, Amsterdam, Oxford and Brussels.

However there’s still a long way to go before their region can compete with more traditional investment hubs like London where over $8.2bn raised this year versus $418m locally.

The objective was to develop a bespoke website to easily signpost investors and founders to relevant funding support and information.

The newly created site aimed to increase the flow of capital into the region by putting a digital spotlight on the great companies that are in the region, moving investors and founders together to network, share and learn.

We started with the visual appeal of the site, focusing our designs on complementing the strong TechSPARK UK brand. We also simplified the original proposed site navigation and made it easier for site admins to make updates through the CMS.

Since the site is mainly informational and serves to drive people deeper into the engagement funnel, we knew browsing would be one of the top reasons people came to the site.

We therefore introduced a main CTA across the site driving people to the support sections where they could discover the full range of events, forums and support on offer.

For power users of the site, we implemented a search feature that allows users to type in keywords and be taken directly to that resource, providing quick access for users who mainly come to the site to grab takeaway resources.

Our approach during the design phase was to craft a fully functional, yet simplistic website that caters to each of its user personas, while also remaining engaging.

We wanted to demonstrate IAP’s lead market position with an equally innovative site that reinstates the dominance IAP has in the regions finance ecosystem, all while simply and directly presenting the visitor with what they’re looking for. 

After crafting the perfect website for IAP, we triple checked it from front end to back end. We tested the website on popular devices and browsers to ensure proper functionality and efficiency. We carefully combed through the site for any necessary last minute changes needed to create the perfect experience for IAP and their visitors.

After thoroughly assessing, communicating, building and testing, we were proud to deliver a custom fresh and easy-to-navigate website for IAP.

The new simple and interactive designs were paired with a robust internal platform that allows admins to easily make updates and visitors to navigate quickly throughout the site, allowing IAP to offer an enhanced online experience to their visitors.