Member Article

UK tech start-up Adlet through to final in global start-up battle

Swansea Based Female Lead Tech Startup Through to the Finals of the Global Startup Battle.

Swansea’s first Startup Weekend, held over the final weekend in November, saw nearly 70 developers, designers, business people and marketers coming together to create and pitch a minimum viable product in just 54 hours.

Following on from the success of the Swansea Startup Weekend Adlet, an online ad platform, is through to the final 15 of the Global Startup Battle in the Women’s Circle, which is sponsored by Coca-Cola. Adlet is one of only three UK teams and the only Welsh team across all categories to make it through to the final.

Adlet founder, Emma Coles, says “The fact that my business idea was taken from concept to reality in one weekend is incredible. More people need to be aware of the support talent that exist in Swansea. It really is a fantastic place to do business.”

Recent years have seen an exponential growth in online advertising, with over £3bn spent in the first half of 2013, a 17.5% increase for the same period the previous year.

Adlet is a web-based social ad platform for independent bloggers and small businesses, to allow bloggers to quickly and easily monitise their blogs and accept adverts from businesses that want to ensure their products are shown to relevant consumers.

“Current advertising models are time consuming and complicated for both advertisers and publishers,” explains Coles, who pitched the initial concept at Swansea Startup Weekend. “Adlet makes it easy for bloggers to sell adspace and have complete control over the adverts that are shown on their website, as well as making it quick and easy for advertisers to find new and relevant places to advertise.”

Emma Coles, the owner of Swansea based online indie boutique Ji Ji Kiki, knows how time consuming online advertising can be. “Its a fantastic way to get your brand in front of a global audience, but can be a full time job in itself for both the adveriser and publisher. We believe it doesn’t have to be as complicated as current models make it.”

Since the Startup Weekend Adlet has signed up advertisers and publishers for its beta test launch in early 2014 and received fantastic feedback from both sets of users as well as members of the tech community.

“We have had such wonderful support from other members of the Swansea tech scene and we are now based out of the newly opened TechHub Swansea. It’s really an exciting time to be an entrepreneur in South Wales,” Coles said. “We’re proud to represent not only Swansea, but the UK in the Global Startup Battle and have been truly inspired to build the foundation of what we believe will be an international brand.”

The finalists in the Women’s Circle go before executives at Coca-Cola, YouNoodle, Startup Angels and RivalIQ who will access the teams on their business model, execution and longevity. The winner will receive $10,000 in travel to go out to Coca-Cola’s headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia and receive one-on-one mentoring from Coca-Cola Women Executives.

To find out more about Adlet, visit their website at http://www.adlet.co. You can also follow them on Twitter at @adletco and on Facebook at Adlet.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma Coles .