A HIGH tech start-up that converts voice recordings into accurate text gave the best pitch at The SETsquared Partnership’s Entrepreneurship Programme.

Rajpal Rai from NowTranscribe took part in the three day course, which involved lectures and practical sessions, culminating in a Dragons’ Den style pitch, held at SETsquared’s Basingstoke hub at the Innovation Centre, on Basing View.

Among those listening in on the pitches was the council leader of Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, Councillor Clive Sanders.

Rajpal, who is one of three co-founders of NowTranscribe and who won a bottle of Champagne for her pitch, said: “I’m thrilled to have been picked as the winner.

“It’s really nice to get some great feedback on our business, allowing us to refine our message so that we can explain and promote our company so people understand what’s it about.

“We’re at the very early stage where we have a product that is now in Beta and we’re hoping to release it in the next two months.”

Rajpal, explained that the media, such as with journalists, is NowTranscribe’s first target market, along with media monitoring companies and businesses users to transcribe recorded meetings and researchers who need to record interviews.

“NowTranscribe is all about helping you to transcribe audio or video – any recording that contains speech – using technology to make transcriptions easier than current solutions,” said Rajpal.

She was among nine other contenders and clearly impressed the panel of four judges, comprising of high tech entrepreneurs Rob Moccatta, Peter Lilley and John Morton along with David Breame, who is SETsquared centre director at the Unversity of Southampton.

SETsquared’s entrepreneur in residence Adrian Braine, was also impressed with NowTranscribe, which recently became a SETsquared member and is based at the Innovation Centre.

He said: “We’re very encouraged by the technology that they have got and we’ve been helping them to shape their proposition and market approached over the last few weeks and I think that came through loud and clear during Ranja’s presentation.”

Commenting on the course, which has been described by some participants as being like a “three day MBA,” Adrian said: “It’s been very good and intensive. I think everybody has learned a lot. They’ve been very engaged and the feedback we’ve had has been amazing in what they have picked up.

“It’s blown them away in a lot of cases and I think the experience has really helped them to understand the elements you need to have in place to make a successful business.”

Prior to the Entrepreneurship Programme, SETsquared hosted an event called Internet of Threats: start-up opportunities in IoT security.

Held at the Innovation Centre, the well attended event looked at the growth of the global market for ‘big data.’ The SETsquared Partnership is an enterprise collaboration between five leading research-intensive universities – Southampton, Surrey, Bath, Bristol, and Exeter, Southampton and Surrey.

It launched its Basing View incubation hub in December last year after Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council awarded a £100,000 grant to the scheme.