In the past year, a visible shift has taken place across the West Midlands and beyond. A new generation of founders are proving that innovation isn’t just about speed, scale or technical sophistication; it’s about who gets to participate.
Across vastly different sectors, four Future Planet Capital Regional (FPC Regional) portfolio companies are showing that the most transformative businesses are those that make their industries more inclusive, accessible, and human-centred. Rather than simply identifying gaps in the market, they identified gaps in society and sought solutions to create more inclusive spaces for everyone to participate.
Accessible training
Assemble You, a training business that has created development programmes delivered in podcast and audio format, has done so not only to fit personal and professional development more easily into busy lives, but to offer alternatives to traditional learning formats that simply don’t fit everyone. Attending courses or physically reading textbooks does not work for all learners, such as deskless or neurodivergent workers. By enabling skills development during commutes, chores, breaks, or ‘dead time’, they’re broadening access to training and accelerating adoption of crucial new capabilities, including AI literacy.
FPC Regional’s investment in Assemble You means they can support innovative product development moving forward, support more learners and businesses with the challenge around AI adoption through their training offering and can reach more prospective customers.
Simplifying finances
Finances can be stressful, and for some it can be an intimidating, emotional or simply overwhelming subject. Inicio AI was born from witnessing this first-hand; a pregnant woman in crisis, struggling to access financial support through a complex affordability form.
Inicio AI’s virtual agent ‘Budgie’ was designed to change that dynamic entirely. By creating a private, non-judgemental and intuitive way to complete affordability assessments, Inicio AI enables people, especially the vulnerable or anxious, to take control of their financial journey.
The solution saves time and the cost of call centre agents walking consumers through the forms, instead allowing them to focus on more complex conversations, whilst helping more consumers access financial support when they need it most.
Thanks to Inicio AI’s service, an average of 30% more consumers are able to receive support, and Inicio AI has helped people discover tens of millions of pounds-worth of unclaimed benefits thanks to the rich data its Budgie agent collects and analyses.
FPC Regional’s investment not only helped the business support more consumers, it has enabled Inicio AI to grow its offering and its workforce, as well as moving into new areas of lending and wealth management.
Alcohol-free fine dining
However, it’s not just technology that can create inclusive solutions. Saicho founders Charlie and Natalie found that in fine dining settings, there was little provision for non-drinkers. A lot of menus had detailed wine pairings, but for those who don’t drink alcohol there was little thoughtful alternative; often just water or sweetened fizzy drinks. There was a gap for a sophisticated, non-alcoholic option that could stand alongside great food.
Saicho was created to fill that void. The founders used their food-science backgrounds to craft sparkling teas designed for pairing, provenance, and complexity, just like wine, but without alcohol. From Michelin-starred restaurants to global distribution, with FPC Regional’s investment, Saicho is creating a new category for those who refrain for health, cultural, religious or personal reasons.
Mobility for everyone
Travel should never be the barrier that prevents someone from accessing culture, sport, recreation, or community. Yet all too often it is, because the journey is confusing, inaccessible, or poorly planned for real visitor needs.
You. Smart. Thing. (YST) was created to bridge that gap by providing personalised, context-aware travel plans for events and destinations.
Whether it’s a concertgoer who needs step-free access, a festival visitor unsure of shuttle routes, or a city aiming to create greener public methods of transport, YST works to remove any potential barriers for consumers and makes the journey all part of the experience.
Their technology empowers local authorities, venues and major events to recommend tailored routes and options that people would never otherwise discover. The result is greater accessibility and smoother operations. FPC Regional’s investment gave YST the ability to establish a global offer from within the UK, expanding its sales and marketing, product and software engineering teams to bring its technology to a global stage.
These businesses share a common theme; they are real companies created for real people, and are designed to ensure people can more fully participate in all areas of life. FPC Regional is helping to shape a more inclusive future, here in the West Midlands and beyond.
If your West Midlands-based business would benefit from investment, visit our Pitch for Investment page to see how FPC Regional can transform your organisation.