Fledgling businesses lined up last week to impress a panel of seasoned judges from John Lewis in a bid to get their big break.
Thirteen finalists presented their innovative designs to buyers from the retailer after being picked from over 400 entries to attend an event at its London headquarters. The Pitchup initiative is part of national enterprise campaign StartUp Britain's plans to encourage more big businesses to help small.
Each start-up had a 25-minute slot to present at the day-long event and will receive a follow-up mentoring session with a relevant buyer to help ready their product for market.
StartUp Britain co-founder Emma Jones said: "Getting an opportunity to pitch to a retailer like John Lewis is incredible for these small businesses, and will give them a real insight into what they need to do to prepare their business for scaling.
"The mentoring will be essential to help these businesses to grow into the future high street producers."
Anna Rigby, head of buying, home, gifts and accessories for John Lewis, added: "We're delighted to work with Startup Britain to hold our second Pitchup event. We were so impressed with all the finalists; their professionalism when pitching to us was remarkable and the innovative products on show were truly inspiring."