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Thunder in as Startup Awards Final

Phoebe Belfield and Dave Scotford - Team Norse Thunder

Team Norse Thunder are celebrating after being named as a finalist in the 2022 StartUp Awards - a national enterprise awards program that attracted more than 2,500 nominations. 

Thunder are just one of three Midlands-based social enterprises to reach the final stage of the competition and is up for the Midlands Social Startup award. 

The StartUp Awards National Series program is backed by BT, Dell, Intel, and other major businesses and was launched by the team behind the Great British Entrepreneur Awards. 

While Team Norse Thunder initially launched in 2016 as a passion project amongst friends, the team became an officially registered social enterprise in 2020 - only two months before the country went into lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Speaking about reaching the final shortlist of businesses, Team Norse Thunder’s Dave Scotford said: “We’re obviously really excited about this and it’s a massive credit to all of our players and staff that work so hard day in day out to make a difference to people’s lives. 

“It recognises the launch of our education academy that’s helping people get themselves work-ready through qualifications and work experience, our city-centre venue that’s a safe haven for people with barriers to social engagement, and our esports rosters who bring people together from all over the world.

“There’s a national entrepreneurship awards program recognising the good that esports can do in wider society here and that’s huge. There’s so much good our industry does and can do, and we’re hoping to carry the flag at the awards finals later this year.”