Companies in Devon have the opportunity to secure a slice of a £250,000 investment at a pitch event, as part of the Like Minds Ideas Festival in Exeter.

After successful events in New York, Helsinki, Bristol and London, the festival is retuning to its hometown of Exeter for a day of inspirational speakers and immersive master classes on Friday 29 September.

Business leaders from global brands including LinkedIn and Lego are talking and running immersive masterclasses at the festival, where regional businesses will have the chance to pitch their entrepreneurial ideas to a panel of investors.

The participants, who will be chosen from a pool of applicants, will have five minutes to pitch their business and share their ideas, and then answer questions. The panel will be made up of investors from Angel & Venture networks, with a collective £250,000 to invest in the most innovative and exciting start-ups.

Whilst final funding decisions will not be made on the day, this event will allow candidates to then follow up with interested parties.

Like Minds founder Andrew Ellis said: “Local businesses can present their business ideas to some of the UK’s most influential investors to try and secure a share of the festival reward. The pitch event is one part of a fantastic business festival that will give our regional businesses an array of opportunities to learn, be inspired and make new connections.”

The latest international speakers to be announced for the festival, entitled ‘From Start-up to Scale up’, are James Poulter, of Lego’s Global Social Media leadership team, and LinkedIn’s Global Content Marketing Leader Jason A. Miller.

Confirmed speakers and masterclass workshops include:

Karime Hassan, Chief Executive and Growth Director, Exeter City Council

James Poulter Head of Social at Lego

Oli Barrett MBE, Co-founder Startup Britain

Minter Dial, Founder of The Myndset

Robert Camp, Managing Partner, Stephens Scown

Bindi Karia, Bindi Ventures

Glenn Woodcock, Exeter City Futures

Luke Lang, Crowdcube

Jason Miller, Global Content Marketing Lead, LinkedIn

Janet Coyle, Director, London & Partners

John Courtney, Stockwood Ventures

Kate Doodson, Cosmic Digital Transformation

Chris Moss, Mav3rick, How to Encourage Creativity Immersive Masterclass

Stephen Bateman, Your Marketing Funnel Immersive Masterclass

Deri Llewelyn–Davis, Strategy on a Page Immersive Masterclass

Dan Simmons, Propellia, Thought Leadership Immersive Masterclass

Glenn Le Santo, Orange Business Services, Content Marketing Immersive Masterclass

Whilst all Early Bird discounted tickets have sold out, a new “Buddy Up” discounted ticket offer is running in July, for £75 for the full day experience, a £120 saving off the full price ticket.