Innovation Birmingham held a keynote event with entrepreneur Brian Donnelly. About 120 people attended the event to hear how he founded and built Constellar – a $123m Silicon Valley start-up.

Following the sale of Constellar, Mr Donnelly founded Synapse – a start-up based at the Innovation Birmingham Campus , which has grown revenues from £300,000 in 2012 to £1.3m in 2014.

Brian compared US and UK business, team and investment cultures, as well as the relative merits of the customers and the economic and legislative climates.

The presentation also included details of how Synapse is securing grants and raising loan investments, as well as leveraging the considerable benefits of b eing based at the Innovation Birmingham Campus , which has contributed to Synapse’s continuing rapid growth.

Pictures by Dale Martin