Stevens Hewlett & Perkins (SH&P) are delighted to announce the return of Pitch & Protect, our £10,000 Intellectual Property Fund, and we are excited to be showcasing the initiative at Climb26. Created specifically to support innovative UK start-ups and early-stage businesses developing patentable technology, products and inventions, Pitch & Protect is designed to help ambitious founders secure the intellectual property protection needed to support future growth and commercial success.
Many founders are building exciting technologies and innovative products with significant commercial potential, yet often delay seeking patent protection due to cost or uncertainty around the process. Pitch & Protect was created to help overcome that barrier by providing one successful applicant with £10,000 worth of intellectual property support and services.
The award includes strategic IP advice, patent drafting and filing support, trade mark protection where appropriate, and access to experienced patent and trade mark attorneys.
As a partner and exhibitor at Climb26, the SH&P team will be speaking with founders, innovators, start-ups and scaling businesses about protecting and commercialising innovation. If you are developing patentable technology, a new product, or a novel solution to a real-world challenge, we would love to meet you on The Street in the Royal Armouries.
Applications for Pitch & Protect 2026 are now open, for more information please visit [ADD NEW WEBSITE PAGE] with entries closing on 24 July 2026.
Here are just two examples and why this is THE BEST EVENT FOR FOUNDERS
So one of the biggest things that founders in regions struggle with - later stage funding for tech businesses.
This is widely talked about and the founders of these scaleup businesses are the exact people we want to come to climb (least price sensitive) but the hardest to get to an event because most events don’t have the right people in the room.
Regional scaleup funding remains one of the biggest challenges facing high-growth businesses in the UK. The British Business Bank’s Small Business Equity Tracker 2025 shows that 61% of total UK equity investment was still concentrated in London in 2024, despite progress in recent years. The same tracker found that only five of the UK’s twelve nations and regions saw investment growth over the year.
For founders outside the capital, that matters.
It means that raising growth capital is not just about having a strong business. It is also about visibility, investor relationships and being connected to the right funding networks.
The ScaleUp Institute has long identified access to finance as one of the five persistent barriers to scale, alongside access to markets, talent, leadership and infrastructure. Its access to finance analysis also found that 78% of scaleups use at least one source of external capital, while half of scaleups do not feel they have the right amount of funding in place for their current growth ambitions.
That is exactly why Climb26 matters.
Climb is not simply bringing together people who talk about funding. It is bringing together genuine, active scaleup investors and finance leaders who understand what it takes to fund growth.
Here is an example of a valuable session with a great lineup of guests:
Capital, Timing & Terms: How later-stage investors really underwrite scale
The guest list is to die for:
Sam Cooper Gray - Former Global head of Market Strategy for HSBC business banking, part of the “Invest in Women Taskforce”.
Erin Platts - CEO Octopus Ventures, former CEO of HSBC Innovation Banking (Silicon Valley Bank), board member of Scaleup institute
Ian Merricks, founding partner of White Horse Capital, CEO Venturepath, Founding team of Scaleup accelerator
Harry Williams - Highland Europe (a pan-European TMT (software and consumer) fund with €4B+ AUM)