Newcastle firm Bubblepix wins Thinking Digital Start-up competition

Newcastle start-up Bubblepix has taken away the top prize at the Thinking Digital Startups Competition.

The company uses fully immersive 360-degree media called ‘Bubbles’ to create the only instant 360 photo and video connected device on the market.

Stuart Varrell, of Bubblepix went up against YPlan to each give a three minute pitch to the conference audience after being shortlisted as the two finalists in the competition.

Addressing the hundreds of delegates, Stuart said: “The best camera I have now is the one I have in my pocket all the time.

“What if we can take that small window and capture everything around us.

“Let me introduce you to the bubblescope.

“Using it, we can relive the whole experience forever.”

Stuart also introduced the audience to ‘Bubblepod’ which can capture high-resolution imagery.

Bubble pix were given the award by NIck Goode of Sage One, who introduced the ceremony by saying: “We in Britain don’t like to show off but we should because today, Sage is the biggest software company in the UK. It’s also the world’s leading software dealer.

“Yesterday we saw some amazing presentations, we saw some great ideas.”

The winners took away membership of the ‘Rackspace Startup programme’, which includes more than £15,000 of cloud hosting.

They will also be placed among the final 20 interviewees for the ignite100-2013 accelerator programme.

Accepting the award, Stuart said: “It’s been a real pleasure to be up here in front of such a prestigious audience.

“I’m looking forward to what I will learn tomorrow.”

Runner-up, YPlan, described as ‘Tonight’s Going Out App’ comes from a London-based team and offers a carefully curated shortlist of top events such as gigs, cinema, theatre, restaurants and events.

It is the world’s first mobile-only event booking app and offers two touch booking, it has enjoyed 93% five-star rating from app store users.