Home of the BackTow lifejacket. 

TeamO Marine is a Southampton based family business founded by brother-sister sailing duo Oscar and Lauren Mead. After a series of accidents and fatalities in the British yachting community Oscar (a naval architect who trained at Solent University) set out to design a lifejacket that would stop these needless deaths from happening.

What’s the innovation?

The patented BackTow lifejacket was the result and TeamO designs now sell around the UK, in 8 overseas markets and online. Oscar’s work has been described as ‘revolutionary’ by one of the leading yachting industry publications and the BackTow lifejacket has gone on to win numerous innovation awards.

TeamO lifejackets are 100% made in the UK and in order to grow further the business successfully crowdfunded in 2018 to raise essential capital to help expansion. The team of 6 now work from a production facility in Woolston and continue to use their sailing experiences in the Solent to inspire their next innovations. In 2019 Oscar and Lauren were honoured to jointly accept the British Marine Federation’s Young Business Person of the Year Award.

What are you looking to get from #VFS21?

We heard of VentureFest South last year but we were too late to join the party. This year we’re excited to be taking part as an innovator and to help encourage entrepreneurship and local start-ups by sharing our experience. We’re keen to talk to others who are taking the challenge on too!