Animation & Media

A+C is a full service production company. We house numerous creative, production and post-production artists, alongside three full kitted studio spaces and digital suites.

With our roster of diversely skilled directors, the studio can provide both long-form and short-form content across all channels and apertures whilst maintaining creativity at its core.

“[We joined the Create South East Programme] to meet other local businesses and gain insights through a business mentor that would help us think outside the box when it comes to business growth and ideas – not just budgets.”

Dan Richards, Founder

Video Games

Altered Gene is a cutting-edge game studio that helps film and TV IP holders unlock the full potential of their stories through gaming. We specialize in rapid prototyping, creating interactive experiences that test and prove an IP’s viability in the gaming space. With a deep understanding of both industries, we bridge the gap between screen and gameplay, turning great stories into engaging games. Partner with us to explore new opportunities and expand your IP’s reach.

The main takeaway from the programme was all the work we did to sharpen our commercial strategy and refine our value proposition. This directly led to two productive meetings with major IP holders. The mentorship and expert support offered by the programme gave us access to experienced advisors in creative industries, business strategy, and funding aligned perfectly with our company goals.

Des Gayle, Founder

Digital Media

Borderpoint Films is an independent production company specialising in unscripted factual content for broadcast, streaming and digital platforms. We work across many genres and formats with a focus on science and history. We make intelligent programmes that are emotionally engaging and grab attention with bold visuals. From explosive science stunts and epic engineering to docudrama and provocative polemics, we want audiences to be as excited about the facts as we are.

“The Create South East programme has supported us to establish a solid business foundation from which we can grow.”

Dominic Rees-Roberts

Advertising & Media

Brightside Publishing produce hyper-local seasonal magazines on newsprint, distributed to selected stockists around the East Kent coast. We shine a positive light on the people and the place, focusing on events, art, food and drink, interiors, community and charity. The magazines are produced by local creatives, who are all paid for their work.

“Create South East has helped our understanding of our company ambitions and create a robust business plan and pitch deck to potentially move forward with investment.”

Jen Brammer, Co-Founder

Craft & Design

 Clueit Webb Interiors is a bespoke Interiors company based in Margate, Kent. We specialise in interior design, bespoke upholstery, soft furnishings, exclusive textile ranges, made to order/vintage furniture, in this capacity we work with both residential and commercial clients throughout the country.

“We joined the programme to gain fresh, expert insight into our business, helping us identify key areas for growth and refine our strategic focus.”

Corinne Webb, Co-Founder

Digital Media

Established in 2010, Digitom is an award-winning production company, creating engaging content for ambitious clients through factual storytelling. We approach each project with purpose at the heart and use our creativity to fulfil the brief in the most effective way possible.

“The programme helped to clarify our thinking around business development and where to focus our efforts.”

Tom Chown, Founder

Art & Design

Fawn & Thistle, founded in 2013 by illustrator Kirsten McNee, creates fun, colourful paper goods and gifts designed to bring joy and connection. With a focus on hand-drawn illustrations, bright colours, and clever puns, all products are made sustainably in the UK, using recycled or eco-friendly materials. From greeting cards to kitchenware, Fawn & Thistle blends positivity with a love for nature, offering charming, environmentally-conscious products worldwide.

“It was nice to get to meet other creative business founders and exchange ideas.”

Kirsten McNee, Founder

Performing Arts

Funny Women is a non-profit community interest company (CIC,) founded in 2002 by award winning entrepreneur Lynne Parker. The annual Funny Women Awards have changed the face of the comedy industry forever and are the benchmark for new comedy talent in performance, script writing, film making and content creation, in the UK and internationally. Many Awards alumni are now household names.

“The Create South East programme has empowered us to think bigger, find ways to grow the business and potentially spin out a new commercial business from our non-profit status.”

-Lynne Parker, Founder

Immersive Tech & IT

immersiv.es are reimagining the live event experience for fans and organisers, filling the void post-ticket purchase with a fully engaging, interactive journey that builds the connection with concerts, theatre, sports, and entertainment. The Immersive Ticket enhances the fan experience before, during, and after the event with personalised content, dynamic features, and augmented reality, elevating the live experience and offering a personal memory wallet to share long after the show ends.

“Create South East has been an essential catalyst, granting us the tools and industry connections to make our vision for augmented, personalised event experiences a reality.”

Ben Dawson, Co-Founder

Fashion

 KETCH Fine Jewellery was started around 7 years ago using the principles of slow fashion as a base, the goal has always been to create jewellery that stands apart and to restore pieces back to or above their former glory. We don’t have a lot of awards, but we do have a lot of satisfied customers, then and now the business is not what we do- it’s who we are and what we create reflects this.

“The support has been fantastic and has helped me rethink my offering (including rebranding) into something cleaner and better.”

Robert Ketch, Founder

Design & Publishing

Kinshipped offers luxury, sustainable stationery and gifting for design lovers. Designed and made in the UK, we are now stocked in over 650 stores worldwide. We hold simplicity in design and sustainability at the core of our brand values and want to lead by example in our industry.

“Our time on the programme has shown us that we are ready to move to the next chapter and bolstered our understanding of what we are capable of as a business. We are now hoping to secure investment to support our future business growth.”

Kayleigh McCardle, Founder

Design & Media

Our independent, multidisciplinary design studio offers art direction, graphic design, and motion design services. Design can be a powerful tool for positive change, and we are committed to using our skills to create sustainable solutions for our clients. We work with businesses of all sizes to help them reduce their environmental impact and create a more sustainable future.

“These connections [from across the programme] represent a valuable network of like-minded professionals who share our passion for impactful work. .”

John-Louis West, Creative Director

Design

LUMA-iD are a professional design and product development services from our London based agency. We are one of the top product design companies in the UK, offering a complete design solution from initial concept, to prototyping and manufacturing. Decades of combined experienced ensures our team are able to elevate the most basic of concepts into a fully developed product. This is achieved by following a highly-defined list of processes that are designed to optimise your chances of success.

” Throughout our time on the programme, we received an abundance of support from our mentor. This included some amazing workshops with lots of new information picked up. We also managed to make new contacts.”

Mark Little, Founder

CreaTech

Makeup-ID is a start-up application offering advanced skin photo imaging technologies and artificial intelligence that is supported by our health and wellness network of esteemed practitioners. The application is designed to conduct comprehensive health and beauty assessments, to assist in early detection and treatment of skin conditions, Skin Cancer prevention, Diabetes detection and more.

“Our journey is young but strong and we wouldn’t be here without the Create South East team as our story wasn’t straightforward.”

Natalie Piacun, Founder

 Modish Muslimah is a modest fashion discovery platform, curating a selection of stylish and modest pieces from leading brands and boutiques. By bringing these collections together in one convenient location, we simplify the shopping experience, making modest fashion more accessible and effortless. Our platform ensures that individuals can explore and purchase high-quality, curated styles with ease.

“The program has been instrumental in strengthening our vision and preparing us for future growth opportunities.”

Nadia Ahmed, Co-Founder

Performing Arts

 At Shooting Star Entertainments, we create performances that inspire, educate, and engage audiences of all ages. We believe everyone deserves great theatre, which is why we champion accessibility, leading the way in touring theatre SEND experiences and being Makaton aware. From classic pantomimes to curriculum-based productions, we bring joy and discovery to schools, communities, and beyond. With a creative team dedicated to excellence, we spark imaginations and create lasting memories through immersive experiences and storytelling.

“The programme’s support has helped us refine our business strategy, strengthen our networks, and access resources that have directly contributed to our growth. ”

Kate Maunder, CEO

Immersive

SOAR is a Virtual Reality solution for industry. Over the past 5 years, we’ve perfected the deployment of high-end immersive experiences for those who don’t know the meaning of the word “compromise”. Introducing SOAR, our patented game-changing PC-VR platform for immersive visualisation, design and training. Now you can deploy and enjoy truly breath-taking immersive experiences, anywhere!

“We have found the entire programme to be incredibly valuable and supportive, including access to a really fantastic and experienced mentor.”

Dan Lawrence, Founder

Digital Media

Squid Shack Studios is a Kent-based production company founded by Daniel Eycott and Syd Heather, dedicated to telling community-driven stories through film and multimedia. We specialise in compelling documentaries, video podcasts, and narrative content, including our award-winning feature Micropubs – The New Local, now streaming worldwide. Supported by Create South East and The Kent Foundation, our unscripted slate explores themes including Coastal Cinemas, Special Educational Needs (SEN), and the Great British Pub, expanding our mission to connect communities through storytelling.

“The Create South East Programme has been transformative for us as a company, helping us bridge the gap between creative ambition and business sustainability.”

Syd Heather, Founder

Architecture

Studio Sam Causer are an RIBA accredited Conservation Architecture practice specialising in the adaptation of complex, often historically-sensitive sites that support contemporary life. Our work combines interests in social behaviour with conservation philosophy, believing that architecture can both record and mould daily human interaction and wider political systems. We work with homeowners, cultural bodies, councils, and develop innovative self-directed research projects.

“The Programme provided incredible insight on how to seek out and secure both private and public funding, as well as providing access to a strong network of experts and supporters.”

Jarred Henderson, Associate Director

Games

 Swerve Games is an independent British studio that creates free-flowing sports games with intuitive controls and a rewarding learning curve. With a focus on elegant physics-based gameplay, we create true games of skill where every action directly impacts your outcome.

“Being a solo entrepreneur can be a lonely endeavour, so it was a great opportunity to connect with people locally who are going through similar experiences and build enduring friendships.”

Michael Lewin, Founder

Performing Arts

Unsettled Theatre is a company forged at the height of a global pandemic. Our ethos is around delivering creativity in all forms and developing the skills of young people in the creative industry. We produce and run the podcast series ‘But Why?’ – discussing working as creatives, the tips and tricks, our failures and ‘ta-dah’ moments and what we learnt.

“We spent so long trying to do the next thing we never stopped and appreciated what we had done or how we had done it. We are so glad we got to be a part of this programme especially learning alongside other cohort members, who work in different fields but taught us so much themselves.”

Paige Canavan-Smith, Artistic Director

Branded Content & Video

Vloop started out as a video production company making corporate video for the likes of Google and Capgemini. Fast forward a decade and we’re now producing social first videos for brands that garner millions of views. We pride ourselves on delivering fantastic creative whilst remaining humble: great work doesn’t have to come with a great ego.

“Our time on the programme has been valuable to the business and on a personal level, to my own life-long learning.”

Steve Lennon, Founder

Digital Media

Wildwood Media is a full-service video production company that has offices in Kent (HQ) and the Midlands. We offer services for all forms of video production. Our services include filming, video editing, graphics, animation, brand videos, and more. Our filmmakers and directors do have experience across the film industry in feature films, documentaries, product videos, events video productions, story-based campaigns for brands, sales and advertising videos, short promotional videos for corporate websites, shorts and videos for YouTube and creating video commercials for corporate clients.

“We joined the Create South East programme so we could learn from great mentors and improve our business – with an eye on maximising our new Midlands office and new locations.”

Christopher Newberry, Managing Director