51³Ô¹ÏÍø

A selection of the capital’s most exciting early-stage startups have pitched their businesses to an audience of investors and industry experts at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø.

Twenty ventures run by students and recent graduates from 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, King's College London, LSE, Queen Mary University of London and UCL were brought together to pitch at this year’s London Demo Day – the capital’s premier showcase for university-founded startups. 

Now in its seventh year, London Demo Day is the largest showcase of its kind, providing an opportunity for investors, industry partners, and members of the capital’s innovation ecosystem to meet promising startups and see why London is a top location for university entrepreneurship. 

“London is a phenomenal success story already, and it is imperative for all of us, including the founders in this room, to take it to the next level, so we become an innovation ecosystem to match, compete and beat the very best in the world.” Professor Hugh Brady President of 51³Ô¹ÏÍø

Since launching in 2019, London Demo Day participants have gone on to collectively raise more than £140 million in investment. All 20 of the startups pitching at this year’s London Demo Day are seeking investments between £100,000 and £2m for their innovations, covering diverse areas such as health tech, sustainability and AI. 

The event at 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s South Kensington Campus included opening remarks from , President of 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, and a keynote speech from Dr Manjari Chandran-Ramesh, Partner in the Early Stage Fund at Amadeus Capital Partners.

In his opening remarks, Professor Hugh Brady highlighted WestTech London; the frontier innovation ecosystem, founded and anchored by 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, that is fuelling the next era of scientific and technological collaboration. WestTech London is already home to more than 1,000 frontier innovation companies, which together employ more than 20,000 people and generate £9 billion in annual turnover.

Professor Brady said: "Our universities aren’t just hotbeds of fantastic education and research; they are also hotbeds of innovation and produce so many great companies from our students and from our faculties year upon year. Those companies attract investment, generate jobs, and drive economic growth.”

He added: “London is a phenomenal success story already, and it is imperative for all of us, including the founders in this room, to take it to the next level, so we become an innovation ecosystem to match, compete and beat the very best in the world.”

Dr Chandran-Ramesh said: “Student startups are unusually close to the absolute frontier. Students encounter new research, new tools, and new ways of thinking before these ideas have become conventional industry practices. They move naturally across disciplines, and we have seen that in many of the 20 companies today.”

Following pitches from the startups, the audience of investors and innovation stakeholders was given an opportunity to meet the founders at a networking reception which included exhibits from all 20 of the ventures.

This year’s ventures representing 51³Ô¹ÏÍø were:

• Aeropod – a soil regeneration startup developing a capsule that activates in response to heavy rain to aerate and enrich soil, led by Innovation Design Engineering graduate Lu Afolayan.
• ChangeBio - a protein prototyping platform that is addressing challenges with developing engineered proteins for scalable manufacturing, co-founded by 51³Ô¹ÏÍø PhD graduate Noah Sprent and Oxford graduate Zoe Woods.
• Sealeo - a seaweed-based alternative to single-use packaging for temperature-sensitive medicines like vaccines and insulin, led by Innovation Design Engineering graduate Diana Epel.
• SurgeryAI – an AI-powered platform to streamline hospital scheduling using machine learning and advanced auto-scheduling algorithms, led by International Health Management graduate Natalie Cooke.

51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s entrepreneurial ecosystem

Many of the startups who have represented 51³Ô¹ÏÍø at London Demo Day have previously been supported by the – our dedicated support service for entrepreneurial students, staff and alumni. 

The participating startups are also now based across the entrepreneurial ecosystem that forms part of WestTech London, with Aeropod and Sealeo based at in White City, ChangeBio based at the South Kensington Campus, and SurgeryAI based at The Foundry in Hammersmith.

Ben Mumby-Croft, Director of 51³Ô¹ÏÍø Enterprise Lab, said: "At 51³Ô¹ÏÍø, our ambition is to make entrepreneurship accessible to anyone with the curiosity and drive to explore an idea, connecting them with the skills, support and networks to take it forward.

"London Demo Day is that philosophy writ large: bringing great founders, universities and investors together to turn ambitious ideas into action."

Members of 51³Ô¹ÏÍø’s community can receive support at different stages of their entrepreneurial development, with resources such as:

• Opportunities to meet potential co-founders through monthly Community Collider events. 
• Access to subject-specific guidance in areas such as IP, legal, design, and investment, from a pool of more than 100 experts. 
• Entrepreneurship programmes to help participants bring their business ideas closer to commercial reality. 
• Specialist business mentoring for students, alumni or staff members who are ready to move from idea development to business launch.

To find out more about how 51³Ô¹ÏÍø can help you, .

Main image credit: Jo Mieszkowski / 51³Ô¹ÏÍø.