Over the past few years, founders have come to Akcela with ideas rooted in blockchain, AI, machine learning, and other emerging technologies. Each wave of new technology brings new opportunities — and new noise. Here's how we approach it.
Technology-agnostic by design
Akcela is technology-agnostic. We don't back technologies — we back founders building businesses. When a founder comes to us with a concept built on emerging technology, we apply the same rigour as any other application: Is there a real problem? Is there a viable market? Can this become a business that generates revenue and sustains itself?
This approach matters because technology hype cycles can be misleading. In 2021 and 2022, Web3 and blockchain dominated the conversation. By 2023 and 2024, the focus shifted to AI and machine learning. The underlying technologies are different, but the pattern is the same — a surge of interest, a flood of ideas, and a smaller number of genuinely viable businesses that emerge from the noise.
The founders who succeed aren't the ones riding the hype. They're the ones solving real problems for real customers, using whatever technology stack is best suited to the job. That's the filter we apply at Akcela — regardless of the technology involved.
The fundamentals don't change
Every emerging technology conversation eventually comes back to the same questions. Does someone have this problem? Will they pay for a solution? Can you build it? Can you scale it?
Customer discovery is just as important for an AI startup as it is for a SaaS platform or an EdTech company. Business model development, financial modelling, pitch preparation, legal structuring — the work is the same. The technology stack might be different, but the commercial fundamentals are universal.
This is where incubation adds genuine value for emerging tech founders. The technology community around a new innovation tends to focus on the technology itself — the capabilities, the architecture, the potential. An incubator focuses on the business — the customers, the revenue model, the route to market. Both perspectives are essential, but founders who only engage with the technology community can end up building impressive technology that nobody wants to buy.
What we've learned from emerging tech founders
Working with founders across blockchain, AI, and other emerging technologies has reinforced several things we already believed about incubation:
Honest feedback matters more than encouragement. The most valuable thing an incubator can provide to an emerging tech founder is a clear-eyed assessment of whether their technology solves a real problem for real customers. Not hype, not dismissal — just honest, grounded feedback from people who've built companies themselves.
Domain expertise is an advantage. The strongest emerging tech ideas we've seen have come from founders who bring deep sector knowledge — in financial services, agriculture, healthcare, logistics — and apply new technology to problems they understand intimately. Norfolk's economy produces exactly this kind of founder, which is why the region is well-positioned for applied innovation rather than pure research.
Timing matters. Some technologies are ready for commercial application now. Others need more time. Part of the incubation process is helping founders assess whether the market is ready for what they're building — and if not, whether it makes sense to wait, pivot, or focus on a different application of the same technology.
The current landscape
As of 2025, AI and machine learning are the dominant emerging technologies in the startup world. Across the Akcela portfolio and the wider Future Tech Programme, we're seeing founders apply AI to sectors where Norfolk has genuine strength: agriculture, financial services, creative industries, and education.
The same principles apply. We're not interested in AI for the sake of AI. We're interested in founders who use AI to solve problems that matter — and who can build sustainable businesses around those solutions.
Building with emerging tech in Norwich
Norwich might not be the first place people think of for emerging technology startups. But the region has advantages that matter: deep sector expertise across multiple industries, a growing startup community, affordable operating costs compared to London or Cambridge, and structured support through Akcela and the wider ecosystem.
If you're building with emerging technology and you want honest, practical support from people who've done it before, get in touch or apply to the programme. You can also learn about how Akcela works, explore SEIS investment for your raise, or read about the Norwich startup community.
