ENTREPRENEURS and small businesses have put themselves in with a chance of pitching their business to Sir Richard Branson.

The 120 hopefuls were at the Virgin Media Business’ #VOOM: Pitch to Rich 2015 event at The Basement in Kensington Street, Brighton, on Thursday.

The national competition invites small and medium enterprises and aspiring entrepreneurs to pitch their business ideas to the Virgin Group founder for the chance to win a £1 million business accelerator prize fund.

The money is split among winners and runners-up across three categories: Start-Up, New Things and Grow.

Thursday’s event marked the third stop on a tour of five UK cities.

Among those in the running are The W Review, a Brighton-based website providing a supportive platform for the modern woman since November, The Soldier’s Box, a business of three IT experts from Horsham which passes on digital assets to loved ones after someone dies, and Infigo Software, a Crawley-based web-to-print and cross-media marketing group.

During the evening, business gurus shared their own success stories and offered advice on growing businesses.

The businesses now need to galvanise public support through digital votes to get through to the next stage of the competition.

Winners will be chosen by Sir Richard Branson, along with a prestigious panel of judges, during a live final on June 26.

Other interested businesses and individuals should register their interest at pitchtorich.co.uk before May 5.