Awards ceremony highlights Welsh tech success

The second consecutive Entrepreneur Wales Awards ceremony was held at the Principality Stadium last Wednesday evening.

It celebrated the success and contributions of some of the country’s leading entrepreneurs, businesses and early-stage start-ups.

Launched in 2015, the award ceremony is organised by Amplified Business Content, a publishing and marketing agency based in Cardiff.

While it highlighted the success of a number of industries, technology was a key sector. Ben Milsom, the UK MD of tech start-up Echosec, picked up the Tech Entrepreneur of the Year gong.

The award was sponsored by Finance Wales, the Welsh Government’s equity investment arm, and presented by leading tech businessman Richard Theo.

Echosec, which has operations in Canada and South Wales, is a social media analysis tool. It lets users monitor key trends in real-time, and is helping industries such as journalism and law enforcement.

Speaking after the event, Ben told Tech Dragons that he’s proud to be an entrepreneur putting Welsh tech on the map and believes that this award highlights the industry’s success.

“I’ve never been prouder to be Welsh. Each week I’m hearing of a new Tech startup taking its first steps in Wales, and of the successes of existing ones,” he said.

“There are some outstanding individuals and companies that are putting Wales on the map as a place to do business. The Entrepreneur Wales Awards are an opportunity to highlight these and what Wales has to offer.

Ben is excited for the future and explained that his company will soon be looking to raise a new round of funding to spur on further growth. He commended his team, too.

“I’ve been working in the tech world for the past 4 years, and I wouldn’t change it for anything else. I am hugely grateful to the team and the hard work they put in to make Echosec what it is today, and so this award really is for the team,” he continued.

“We are currently in the process of raising our next round of funding, and so anticipating a very exciting start to 2017.”