Two Bicester-based startups have been honoured at this year’s South East StartUp Awards.

Beyond Carbon and Magara Law, both based at Perch Coworking at the Eco Business Centre on Charlotte Avenue, were shortlisted for five awards between them and both came away with an accolade each.

The awards were established in 2022 to highlight the success of start companies across nine of the UK’s regions.

Sustainable construction consultancy Beyond Carbon was crowned Green StartUp of the Year whilst employment law specialist Magara Law took the title for Oxfordshire StartUp of the Year.

Beyond Carbon was founded by Joel Callow and Chris Swinburn in January 2022 with the aim of supporting large-scale construction projects to decarbonise and reach sustainability goals.

Co-founder, Mr Callow said: “We always said that we wanted to be award-winning in some respect and, whilst our construction projects aren’t likely to win awards until they are complete, we felt our business model was really innovative, agile and potentially in with a shot of being recognised as an excellent high-growth startup. 

“We were delighted with three award nominations, but to actually win one of them was fantastic, it’s given us heaps of confidence to move forward with what we’ve built and continue holding our strong sustainability values.

"In the next year or so, we’re aiming to expand the team further, move into our own permanent office space at Perch, possibly even open a second office in another location, and hopefully secure a few project awards too, so there’s lots more to come!”

Celebrating with the Beyond Carbon team was Roy Magara, who set up Magara Law in September 2020, an employment law firm focused on helping people to achieve satisfaction with their working life.

Mr Magara said: “We live in an age of reviews and accolades, and small or new businesses can struggle to get off the ground in terms of building a strong reputation when clients favour established businesses with testimonials.

“Awards like this are invaluable because it adds credibility to all the great things we say that we do, and gives people confidence that we’re the right firm for them.”

Perch Coworking is operated by coworking support specialist Town Square Spaces Ltd, which has a network of enterprise hubs across England and Wales.

Perch’s community manager, Lucy Wendon said: “We’re delighted to see some of our members getting the recognition they deserve for the work they’ve put in to make their businesses a success.

"We really get to know our members and I’ve seen firsthand how these entrepreneurs have developed since joining Perch, taking on bigger challenges and going from strength to strength.

“Congratulations to Magara Law and Beyond Carbon who have truly done Perch proud.

"We can’t wait to see what you achieve next!”