A YORK-based business software company won the £33,000 top prize at Venturefest Yorkshire.

Propalms, which recently moved to York from its base in Malton to expand the business was announced winner of the day's Investment Competition at a glittering gala dinner this evening.

Owen Dukes, director of Propalms, said: “We're trying to expand at the moment, that's why we moved to York to take on more people. We're working with Science City York and local universities and colleges to help us do that and we're interviewing six new graduate starters this week, which we hope to employ.”

The business develops business software that can be used on remote devices, for example he said, their software could turn an iPad into a business tool, making every facet of remote working fully secure, and if the device were lost, all the information would be stored on a central server, rather than in the device itself.

Propalms, which exports its software to 50 countries, moved to Apollo House in York last year to expand its sales team from five full-time employees, and it also has employees in India who do development work.

The Investment Competition at Venturefest is organised by the Yorkshire Association of Business Angels (YABA), which has provided mentors to prepare the entrants for the competition.

Andrew Burton, managing director of the Viking Fund, chaired the competition, which was also judged by business angels Garry Driver and Peter Ball, and Noel Clancy, chief executive of Shepherd FM.

Frooly.com, an online marketplace for independent retailers, which was founded in Sheffield was runner up in the Investment Competition.

Another prize of more than £15,000 was awarded to Cloud2, a Bradford-based business which has developed online business software, mainly for the healthcare market, that can be accessed from anywhere.

Fellow Bradford business GB Teletracker, which tracks business calls to measure the efficacy of marketing campaigns, was runner up in the Innovation Showcase.

Delegates attending the gala dinner heard from Edward Taylor, a York St John University student and young entrepreneur, previously from Northallerton College, who has set up his own business, designing guitars.