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DAY 1:
Friday 7th June | 1.00 pm - 5.00 pm
Runway East | Moorgate | 10 Finsbury Square | London | EC2A 1AF
DAY 2:
Friday 21st June | 9.00 - 3.30 pm
Freuds | Fitzrovia | 1 Stephen Street | London | W1T 1AT
Centre For EntrepreneursCompany No: 07469562 | Registered Charity No: 1140102
NEF Fast TrackPitch Days 2019
Welcome. Thank you for your interest in the NEF Fast Track Pitch Days 2019!
Please find enclosed a summary of both Pitch Days taking place in June.
You will find an overview of each day and also information on each of our NEF Fast Track founders – their background and venture idea as well as when they are pitching.
Should you require any further information, please don’t hesitate to contact us:
Véronique Rapetti Programme Director - Learning & Partnerships
Sabina SamekSocial Media, Communications, and Operations Lead
07717 677 765
07491 941 570
Overview of the Pitch Days 2019:The pitches are structured to last up to 5 minutes with up to 8 minutes for the Q&A from the panel. There will be opportunities to discuss the ventures further in the breaks, at lunch or after the event.
Day 1 will take place at Runway East (Moorgate, 10 Finsbury Square, London, EC2A 1AF) from 1.00 pm – 5.00 pm.
Day 2 will take place at Freuds (Fitzrovia, 1 Stephen Street, London, W1T 1AT) divided into morning (9.00am-12.00pm) and afternoon (1.00pm - 3.30 pm) sessions.
Judges’s Panel
Ian Armitage - Adviser, Tenzing Private Equity
Dee Stirling - Co-Founder, Two London, CFE Trustee
Masha Feigelman - Partner, McKinsey & Co., CFE Trustee
Natacha Jamar - Private Equity Principal, The Blackstone Group
Oli Barrett MBE - Co-founder, StartUp Britain
Rohit Patni - Co-founder & CEO, Lavanya Plus
Simon Menashy - Partner, MMC Ventures
7th of June 1.00 - 5.00 pm
21st of June 9.00 am - 12.00 pm (AM session)
Andy Phillipps - Entrepreneur, Investor, CFE Trustee
Cyrus Jilla - Former President & CEO, Eight Roads
David Pearl - Chairman & CEO, Pearl & Coutts
Jacqueline Cegla - Associate, MMC Ventures
Jake van Beever - Director, Rothschild & Co
Majid Ishaq - Managing Director, Rothschild & Co
Mike Rees - Founder, Strategic Vitality
Hector Mason - Investor, Episode 1 Ventures
Jonathan Muir - Chief Executive Officer, LetterOne Holdings
Kevin McCoy - Co-Managing Director, Next Jump UK
Richard Pollack - Managing Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Saransh Mehta - Growth Fund, Investment Executive - CVC Capital
Simon Thorpe - Managing Partner, Delta2020
21st of June 1.00 pm - 3.30 pm (PM Session)
NEF Fast Track Pitch Days: Day 1 Friday 7th June | 1.00 pm - 5.00 pm
Runway East | Moorgate | 10 Finsbury Square | London | EC2A 1AF
Ian Armitage - Adviser, Tenzing Private Equity
Dee Stirling - Co-Founder, Two London, CFE Trustee
Masha Feigelman - Partner, McKinsey & Co.
Natacha Jamar - Private Equity Principal, The Blackstone Group
Oli Barrett MBE - Co-founder, StartUp Britain
Rohit Patni - Co-founder & CEO, Lavanya Plus
Simon Menashy - Partner, MMC Ventures
Judges’s Panel:
Trigger Conversations is on a mission to put human conversation back into the heart of disconnected cultures. We work with organizations to accelerate collaborative relationships, engineer serendipity and foster creativity and innovation. Our approach and tools are influenced by diverse schools of thought – from applied linguistics, psychology and life coaching to improvisation, philosophy and mindfulness.
To date we have run 80+ events and workshops that have engineered 5000 meaningful conversations with 1400 individuals. In 2018 we were shortlisted for the Hammersmith & Fulham Best Creative/ Media Startup Award. Our clients include global networks, conferences, small teams, entrepreneurial accelerators and universities.
Trigger Conversations
Georgie Nightingall
Education - Leadership training
Looking for: Feedback/ Advice and Introductions
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
Georgie is addicted to deep conversations, authentic connection and learning: ideally all at once. As a Project Manager, Georgie found herself bored and frustrated with small talk and so she founded Trigger Conversations in 2016, which offers experiences and training to help people have more meaningful and stimulating conversations as part of their everyday lives.
Georgie loves to execute the visions she daydreams about is passionate about creating a positive impact on the world.
www.triggerconversations.co.uk
Fireside Foods is a premium ready meal delivery service for the elderly. We aim to resolve the problems faced by malnutrition and lack of accessibility in the UK’s fastest growing demographic.
With a focus on ready meals, but also offering other essentials like medication, the long-term goal of the business will be to establish a trusted delivery infrastructure that improves quality of life and ensures we can all embrace the UK’s food revolution.
Fireside Foods
James Darby
Food & Drinks, Services
Looking for: Advice and Introductions
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
James graduated from the University of Bristol in 2016 with a drgree in French & Spanish. During his year abvroad, he worked in event management and marketing for a start-u pin Argentina, returning in his final year to win multiple rounds of new enterprise and ideation competitions.
Since graduating, James has pursued a passion in food , training as a professional chef and working in international fine-dining and production kitchens. He currently works in consultative sales at Great British Chefs - the UK’s leading premium food website, and is delighted to join NEF to learn the skills to transform his business ideas surrounding food and tech into reality.
Hylia is a peer synergy app for families who have growing time pressures.
Living on top of your calendar, Hylia allows parents to co-ordinate routines and responsibilities in a way that is often hacked together differently by most families. With the simplicity of use and avoiding the clutter of the calendars, this is a modern way to optimise work, family and personal time.
Hylia
Bayo Akins
Technology, Services
Looking for: Advice and Introductions
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
Bayo graduated with a degree in Business Management and Entrepreneurship from the university of Surrey in 2016.Besides that he has been working in and around startups for the last 6 years whilst being the President of the entrepreneur society. During university he was an intern at both Lobster.media, who were based in the Wayra Accelerator, and Mass Challenge UK accelerator, before he went on to launch an influencer page which amassed 60k followers in 8 months.
Since graduating he moved into SAAS sales in startups where he worked Fliplet selling to top law firms and consultancies to now selling for the London based Fintech scale up, Elliptic, selling to finan-cial institutions. In early 2018 he won the London blockchain hackathon with a product on weather data but due to his new found family responsibilities he is now building a solution for parents to better optimise their time.
Venyou is an intelligent assistant, for your social life. We provide bespoke bar and event suggestions based on individual users preferences, in seconds and entirely within the Facebook Messenger platform. In an age of information overload and an ever-changing dynamic in London, we allow users to cut through the noise and find their ideal venue or event in 90% less time.
As our user-base increases and we are able to segment our target groups, the AI within our proprietary algorithm allows our suggestions to get better and more appropriate. At present, we are completely free to use for all locations across London, with the intention to roll out a monthly membership option allowing members to gain discounts at partner venues as well as exclusive insights to the most happening places in London.
Venyou
Rishi Ranjan
Technology, Events www.getvenyou.co.uk
Looking for: Seed Investment £50,000/ Advice and Introductions
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
Rishi graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2016, with a BSc in Economics. Having always been in love with entrepreneurship, Rishi was thrown in headfirst at the age of 15, heading up SEO operations for a small software development company in Cambridge.
After bootstrapping and launching a successful clothing and apparel company whilst at university, he then went on to find his passion in the EventsTech space, working alongside world-class musicians and live acts to improve the user experience of their customers when attending events.
He is now working on his own intelligent event-and-venue recommendation platform, hoping to launch his MVP at the end of May. He is also currently at Product School, learning the core compo-nent of Product Management. Rishi enters NEF looking to bolster his skill-set and learn from a team of passionate and dedicated entrepreneurs.
Bourbon Streat is dedicated to celebrating the flavours of New Orleans.
After a first visit to New Orleans in 2016, we fell in love with the vibe of the city and urgently wanted to bring this unique, colourful experience to London.
Our mission is to embody the experience of New Orleans, to raise awareness and educate people about Louisiana style cooking and living. We have the vision of becoming the home of New Orleans Funk and Soul food in the UK, whilst sourcing sustainably and ethically, and reinvesting into our local environment.
Bourbon Streat
Shana Gujral
Food & Drinks
Looking for: Seed Investment £ 100,000/ Advice and Introductions
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
Shana has a real passion for entrepreneurship and a genuine drive to make a difference in the world. She started up her first business, Rewind Nottingham, with a desire to increase exposure to female music artists around the Midlands. These live stream music events became popular and as a result, she was nominated for three awards by the Student Radio Association; received funding from O2 and performed at Detonate Festival to over 1000 people, inspiring female artists and fans alike.
Soon after, Shana put her entrepreneurial skills to the test and founded Bourbon Streat after a visit to New Orleans. Infatuated by the food, music and general vibe of the city, Shana sought to bring this all round experience to the streets of London through street food markets and live events.
www.bourbonstreat.co.uk
FlightHero is a flight aggregator on a mission to make air travel more affordable and to open cultural experiences to as many people as possible.
Strategies such as Hidden City Ticketing & ex-EU that drastically reduce the price of flights by £100s, currently require technical know-how & ‘educated-guess’ work that’s manual & time consuming.
FlightHero’s smart engine automates the search process to find itineraries that Kayak & Google Flights won’t display.
FlightHero
Yehuda Simon
Technology, Travel
Looking for: Feedback/ Advice & Introductions
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
Yehuda built Israel Inside when he was 17, an app covering Israeli/Arab affairs downloaded over 25,000 times around the world.
Yehuda is passionate about travel, exploring foreign cultures and volunteers as a Regional Coordinator & Mentor on an international development program.
Whilst on the NEF program, Yehuda is an account manager at Zen Educate (the leading on-demand supply teacher app).
ReLi makes eco-friendly portable chargers made from 100% recycled plastics.
As we become more and more attached to our mobile devices, the impact we have on the planet becomes ever greater. With rising levels of e-waste and plastic pollution across the globe, we decided it was time people had a more sustainable way to use technology.
ReLi Chargers are designed with the environment in mind. Currently, at prototype and testing stage, all materials used are sourced from plastic PET bottles and food packaging, meaning no virgin plastic is required and less demand on the planet’s resources.
Our mission is to prove that amazing, useful products can be made while reducing our impact on the planet. Our aim is to empower people to be conscious of how their technology is made, and what impact it has over the course of its lifetime.
Ultimately, ReLi wants to live in a world where our technology is built to support our lives, as much as the planet’s.
ReLi
Finn Sims
Consumer Goods - Sustainable Tech
Looking for: Feedback/ Advice and Introductions/ Commercial Co-founder
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
After setting up a video production business at the age of 15, Finn produced promotional and docu-mentary videos for companies and charities across the UK, USA and Africa. After moving to London to become a Video Producer at Akkroo, he has joined NEF to channel his inner inventor and create a new way for old laptops and smartphones to be recycled into new, environmentally sustainable consumer electronics using recycled plastics.
He is passionate about reducing e-waste and our throwaway habits, and in his spare time, Finn can usually be found tinkering with his 3D printer or playing the piano or drums.
www.ReLi.eco
Pomelo
Claire Rampen
Health/ Wellbeing
NEF Alumna (Class of 2017)
www.bypomelo.com
Pomelo is working towards a world in which caring for our skin doesn’t come with a plastic price tag. We do this through offering zero-waste facials, which are simple, social and affordable, unlike the current model. We want to change the existing paradigm, as the skin care industry alone is responsi-ble for over 100m single-use bottles every year in the UK. We believe that the best way to tackle this is to make adopting zero-waste skin care affordable, easy, convenient and sought-after.
Our approach is to disrupt the skincare service industry; the beauty industry has seen a wave of specialisation in recent years (e.g. blow-dry bars, nail bars etc), but skincare hasn’t seen the same level of change. By changing the service model, we can offer a disruptive price point and introduce consumers to a new way of caring for their skin, which doesn’t cost the earth.
Claire has six years experience in start-up to corporate consumer brands, with a passion for building community-led companies and brands. She has held roles such as Head of Growth at Beryl (bike share), led Growth Strategy at giffgaff, and worked for the Chief Data Officer at Telefonica Global. Her journey to creating Pomelo was driven by a long-held sense of urgency around plastic waste, but a pragmatic view that the alternatives need to be 10x better to capture the attention of consumers.
Looking for: Advice and Introductions
Loka is a digital platform that turns every shopping trip into an experience. We partner with retail brands to provide customers with locally-targeted, personalised and real-time suggestions for events and products available in stores near them.
The convenience economy has weighed heaviest on undifferentiated retailers. On the other hand, ex-perience-led, premium brands and smaller pop-ups continue to find relevance with shoppers, draw-ing them out of the e-commerce ecosystem and into the real world. Yet, these businesses still waste millions of pounds on digital marketing, competing for attention against online-only brands and often paying to reacquire their own customers.
We offer a better solution - one that gives the customer a seamless transition between their digital and physical shopping experience, while ultimately increasing footfall and conversion for retailers.
Loka
Sai Ulluri
Consumer Goods, Technology
Looking for: Feedback/ Advice and Introductions
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
Sai graduated in 2016 with a BA in Economics and Management from the University of Oxford. He then joined BNP Paribas as a fixed income analyst, specialised in Turkish, South African and Russian financial markets, and represented his firm at the Spring Meetings of the IMF in Washington, D.C.
Looking for a new type of challenge, he chose to leave banking to pursue entrepreneurship. As part of the NEF Class of 2019, Sai currently works as a data scientist at WonderBill, a Shell Ventures company. He is also a freelance portrait artist, graphic designer and self-taught programmer.
ADÈ B is a workwear fashion brand with the “fashion-forward woman who loves to make a statement in the workplace” in mind. Stemming from the constant frustration of having to go on multiple websites when buying workwear appropriate clothes that were limited in variety, fit and style, ADÈ B aims to be the solution.
A central point to buy everything you will need for the office be it corporate or start-up. ADÈ B aims to focus on providing pieces for the working woman who love to show their personality, individuality and fashion-flare in what they wear.
ADÈ B
Iyanu Adebiyi
Consumer Goods, Fashion
Looking for: Feedback/ Advice and Introductions
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
Iyanu graduated from the University of Southampton with a BSc in Management with Entrepreneurship. She then spent a year working and freelancing in Social Media Marketing. Her love for all things digital led her to work as a Digital Research Analyst with Seven League, a digital sport consultancy as her host company. Her strengths lie in creativity, adaptability, time management and work ethic.
Iyanu has enjoyed her experience in NEF so far and has seen it as beneficial to develop her skills and give her the experience she will need before starting her own venture.
Arlo Hudson is reinventing men’s underwear through fabric technology, traditional craftsmanship and simple shopping. Underwear has for too long been an afterthought in men’s apparel – why should the first thing on, last thing off – be given the least thought?
We have set out to change the way men think about underwear.
Arlo Hudson
Elliot Vickerstaff
Consumer Goods, Fashion
Looking for: Feedback/ Advice and Introductions
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
www.arlohudson.com
Elliot is a driven and determined entrepreneur, interested in consumer brands and eCommerce. He achieved a first-class degree in Entrepreneurship from Newcastle Business School, during which time he started two ventures in the events and drinks industries respectively.
Following on from university he worked in the city brokering physical commodity transactions in the oil and natural gas sector. Since joining NEF in September Elliot has been working at BGF as part of the investment team in the South West; originating and evaluating investment opportunities in the region.
First comes love. Then comes master event planning.
Wedminute is the AI wedding planner that allows you to book the fundamentals of your wedding in a matter of minutes.
Starting by getting to know the dream wedding of the happy couple, Wedminute combines venue and supplier availability with style, pricing and features to create tailored packages within budget that can be booked immediately. The couple can otherwise choose to pay a reservation fee, giving time to visit venues, meet suppliers, make swaps and share with friends and family.
Taking the stress out of wedding planning, Wedminute allows you to lock down all of the big-ticket items up front, with the guidance and support you would normally seek from a traditional wedding planner. This allows you to focus on the details that really make the day yours.
For the venue and suppliers, Wedminute means more bookings and faster payment. With no fee to list on the Wedminute platform, venues and suppliers can use Wedminute to manage their booking calendar and communications with couples. We only get paid when you get paid.
AI and wedding planning. It’s a match made in heaven.
Wedminute
Katie Lewendon
Technology, Services
Looking for: Feedback/ Advice and Introductions
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
As a bride-to-be, Katie knows very well the stress and expense of planning a wedding. This traditional industry is ripe for disruption, using known technologies in a new way to make wedding planning more enjoyable and efficient for couples.
Originally having graduated with a First Class Honours in Chemistry from University of Oxford, Katie joined Deloitte in 2014 where she specialised in real estate financial advisory, inspired by her father’s carpentry business. She soon pivoted into public sector consulting and data modelling, culminat-ing in consulting on multi-million pound government infrastructure projects. Whilst at Deloitte, Katie helped a friend successfully launch an indie gaming studio; developing the business plan, raising start-up capital and advising on marketing.
During her NEF year, Katie has been lucky to work at both a B2B SAAS start-up as Entrepreneur in Residence and a B2C Fashion Tech start-up in Growth Management.
www.wedminute.com
NEF Fast Track Pitch Days: Day 2 Friday 21st June | 9.00 - 3.30 pm
Freuds | Fitzrovia | 1 Stephen Street | London | W1T 1AT
Andy Phillipps - Entrepreneur, Investor, CFE Trustee
Cyrus Jilla - Former President & CEO, Eight Roads
David Pearl - Chairman & CEO, Pearl & Coutts
Jacqueline Cegla - Associate, MMC Ventures
Jake van Beever - Director, Rothschild & Co
Majid Ishaq - Managing Director, Rothschild & Co
Mike Rees - Founder, Strategic Vitality
Jonathan Muir - Chief Executive Officer, LetterOne Holdings
Kevin McCoy - Co-Managing Director, Next Jump UK
Richard Pollack - Managing Partner, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Saransh Mehta - Growth Fund, Investment Executive - CVC Capital
Simon Thorpe - Managing Partner, Delta2020
Judges’s Panel: AM Session
Judges’s Panel: PM Session
A Complexion Company is a non-toxic beauty innovation company for women of dark skin. We formulate high-quality products for the most common issues of dark skin, inviting women of dark skin to a unique luxury experience made solely for them.Last year the “Fenty effect” highlighted the need for inclusivity in the cosmetic industry resulting in a wave of new products into the market. Simultaneously, this form of inclusivity flooded the market with toxic products for black women. How is this possible?
The Environmental Working Group, a research NGO, reviewed the ingredients of over 1000 beauty products and discovered that 75% of mainstream beauty products marketed at women of colour contained highly toxic and hazardous ingredients. Ingredients that have been proven to cause hormone disruption, reproductive issues and cancer are being marketed and sold to a demographic that is already 1.5 times likely to have fertility issues and antenatal complications.Out of the non-toxic 25% of products, none included make-up, which is why we have chosen foundation as our first product.
With $1.5 trillion to be spent on beauty globally by 2021 by women of dark skin, our ambition is to become the number one brand leading innovation for products for women of dark skin, the most trusted brand among people of colour.
A Complexion Company
Nomshado Michelle Baca
Consumer Goods - Beauty
Looking for: Seed Investment £ 150,000/ Advice and Introductions
NEF Alumna (Class of 2018)
www.acomplexioncompany.com
Nomshado launched her professional career at luxury retailer Ralph Lauren supporting c-suite individuals in Australia, the UK, and Switzerland. She spent 3 years as Chief of Staff for a UHNW family office, managing staff internationally across five cities, and leading the establishment of their family foundation. Nomshado has also freelanced in digital brand marketing strategy - consulting for brands LUX FIX (fashion commence), Fashion Fair (American black makeup brand) and Blaque Square (an afro-based beauty retailer and distributor).
Nomshado maintains a strong relationship with her alma mater Kingston Business School, and has been a speaker at the institution talking about entrepreneurship and her personal quest as a woman of dark skin for beauty products with her in mind.
Most millenials use the same brush for far longer than is recommended and often forget to replenish their toothpaste when it runs out. Additionally, they seek eco-friendly solutions for their everyday needs without having to sacrifice style or convenience; it is estimated that 3.6 billion plastic tooth-brushes are used worldwide every year with the average person using 300 in their lifetime.
Born in Harley Street, manufactured in the UK - our mission is simple: to partner with leading dental clinics and provide a subscription based format to consumers that addresses the pain point of im-proving oral health whilst turning the tide on plastic pollution.
Floe Oral Care
Health/ Wellbeing - Dental
Looking for: Seed Investment £ 50 - 75,000/ Feedback/ Advice and Introductions
William Welton
Javier Navarro
NEF Alumnus (Class of 2017)
external
Five years experience in consumer goods with commercial roles at Diageo, Rocket Internet backed Hello Fresh, and Distill Ventures – Diageo’s VC arm. Alumnus of New Entrepreneurs Foundation (NEF) 2016/17 and member of UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA).
Ex analyst at Plurimi Hedge Fund and Royal Bank of Canada (RBC); CFA Level III candidate. Deep un-derstanding and network in the European Dental Sector. Founder of AirNest, a leading lettings busi-ness specialising in the Canary Islands.
Talos Engineering & Automation Ltd (TEAL) is on a mission to become the go-to provider of robotic system integration solutions for manufacturers in the UK and Europe.
Its inaugural product is a piece of vision-software which gives spatial awareness to robotic machinery allowing them to operate autonomously alongside humans. The proprietary software is hardware-ag-nostic so can be utilised in any manufacturing environment.
Talos Engineering & Automation Ltd
Ben Beaumont
Manufacturing Automation
Looking for: Advice and Introductions
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
Ben graduated from University of Bristol in 2012 with a BSc in Mathematics and has since completed a Stanford University course on Machine Learning. He has co-founded and helped grow multiple start-up businesses, developing a broad skill set spanning business development, product management and project delivery.
Over the duration of the NEF course he has tested numerous ideas before settling on Talos which he plans to scale as Industry 4.0 solutions become mainstream.
www.taloseanda.com
Co-Cup
Julian Godding
Food & Drink
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
www.co-cup.co.uk
We have just 10 years to avoid catastrophic climate change and need to do everything we can to save resources, but last year we threw away 2.5 billion coffee cups in the UK. The current solutions aren’t fit for purpose with only 1% of the population having a reusable cup and 99% of recyclable cups going to landfill.
Co-Cup allows cafes to replace disposable cups with high-quality, returnable and reusable take-away cups at the point of use; cutting the waste but not the convenience. We work with retail cafes, corporates, facilities management and catering groups to provide to offer the easy solution for zero waste coffee.
Julian recently graduated from Oxford University with a Master’s degree in Chemistry. He spent his last year working with Prof. Henry Snaith on a new perovskite photovoltaic technology disrupting the silicon solar cell industry. Julian is passionate about new energy and incorporation with the IoT to create future smart cities and hopes to work to accelerate the advent of sustainable living.
More recently, he has worked in business development for several cleantech startups in Oxford and Cambridge. He has also started his own company on a mission to eliminate disposable cup waste globally. Julian is atypical in his ability to have a highly technical understanding of products, combined with experience of how to develop and sell them. He is excited by the prospect of leveraging these skills to contribute to the goals of a host company in the NEF.
Looking for: Seed Investment £ 20,000/ Advice and Introductions
maqro
Toby Fox
Alejandro Marco
Marketing
NEF Alumnus (Class of 2018)
(external)
www.wearemaqro.com
Maqro is an automated content creation company. We allow teams to create engaging visuals that can instantly be shared across social media channels.
We process real-time sports data with our special blend of computation allowing brands to tell great stories on social media. We also help them to understand fans, using machine learning analytics to keep offering the best content, to the right people, at the right time.
Toby Fox is the cofounder and CEO of maqro. He is an entrepreneur and fellow of the New Entrepreneurs Foundation and The Kairos Society. After studying a degree in Business Design at University in Barcelona he moved back to London to advise startups on the applications of design in business practices. He has launched two tech startups and is an expert in social media marketing, having consulted a number of top startups on growth hacking and growth strategy. He was awarded 2nd place in the NEF Pitching days as well as funded incubation from SETsquared - the global no.1 business incubator managed by a university.
Alejandro Marco is the cofounder and CTO of maqro. He studied telecommunications audio and vision engineering in Spain. During this time, he worked as a project manager and developer for Makers UPV, a student organisation responsible for the inception of companies like Zeleros. After an internship at Deloitte, he moved to London. His degree honed his thinking and skills around technologies such as computer vision, signal treatment, networks, programming and electronics and he was also awarded a scholarship by Huawei in China to refine and improve broadcast systems.
Looking for: Seed Investment £ 250,000
With Subtle Studios we want to provide a Hub for creatives to learn, practice and master their skills. The creative industry hosts large upfront costs to beginning your adventure and being able to provide this for numerous people with potential curiosity of delving into their creative fantasies is what we wish to offer.
The rental of numerous DJ rooms with unique specifications along side recording studios, photo/videography studio’s, writers rooms alongside co-working spaces for the creative sector to operate from. Subtle as an organisation has a strong track record in delivering our core mission to create an innovative movement for creative thinkers. Our collective work as a team has allowed us to take our creative influence and implement this to benefiting the Birmingham culture and beyond.
Subtle Sounds
Jack Young
Marketing, Creative
Looking for: Advice and Introductions
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
Jack Young - (BSc in Sport & Exercise Science). Co Founder Jack is a motivated and hardworking post-graduate from Coventry University. Jack is an individual who is able to work cross-culturally which is demonstrated through extensive experience in a dynamic and customer-centric environment. He is someone that always strives to achieve the highest standards of work and has developed a wide range of professional attributes through entrepreneurial experience from a young age.
The continuation of study through the National Entrepreneurship Foundation post-graduate scheme has yielded a growth of network & knowledge which has been actively applied to current operation. Preparing for expansion with the implementation of structural precision and concise management techniques.
www.subtlesounds.co.uk
Mind2Matter
Shaan Bassi
Technology, AI
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
Mind2Matter is a neuroscience company building an interface that enables technology to understand your emotions. Achieved in the form of world’s first earphone to measure your brain signals.
This interface is designed to help these people and change the way we all interact with technology enabling people to better communicate and use technology to adapt to our changing moods and needs.
The platform is based upon our proof of concept algorithms we have developed that are able to detect 2 emotional states using traditional EEG sensors with an 80% accuracy. We are working to expand the range of emotions from 2 to 16 and the accuracy to >99%.
Initially we are targeting the D2C smart earphones market in the UK. With our USP to improve music suggestion to enhance the music listening experience, this is the quickest Route to Market/revenue.
We aim to enter higher value markets for more advanced applications in ed-tech and mental health where monitoring emotional state (including remotely, with permission) could significantly reduce suicides, enabling preemptive healthcare interventions.
As an Entrepreneur in Residence at Prehype, Shaan leads the creation of spin-outs for large corporates like Nike and Bloomberg from ideation to validation. Then working in scaling through roles in growth hacking and performance marketing.
Research and development researcher at GSK. Biotechnologist at Imperial College London.Operations and development at Evermore Health. Working across ops, the supply chain, future product development and market sizing.
Looking for: Seed Investment £ 300,000/ Advice and Introductions
JustWears is an award-winning digitally native brand with a mission of reinventing men’s basics.
Ergonomic design. Performance fabrics. Sustainable ethos.
Super easy direct-to-consumer shopping experience.
They start with innovating men’s underwear.
JustWears
Yang Liu
Consumer Goods, Fashion
Looking for: Seed Investment £ 1 M
NEF Alumna (Class of 2018)
Yang Liu is the founder of JustWears, a disruptive direct to consumer brand which is innovating men’s basics. Previously, she worked as an investor at the venture capital firm 500 Startups and operated their investment program.
Yang was recognized as Exceptional Talents by TechNation and awarded for “The Creative Innovator of 2018”, “The Most Talented Overseas Entrepreneur” and “Asian Women of Achievement Entrepreneur”.
www.just-wears.com
Female Founders Fair (FFF) is an online careers site for women, built exclusively to kick start young women’s career paths. The world has changed, and we believe it’s time that careers caught up. Your career is no longer just a job, it is a 360-degree lifestyle and FFF is here to be the solution.
We are dedicated to nurturing the next generation of female talent to become disruptive industry leaders. We do this by providing our growing and engaged community of 5,500 women access to ed-ucational content, career opportunities and transparency to women who’ve walked the walk and can talk from experience. Our focus is on connecting this community with savvy companies who wish to engage, influence, hire and develop female talent from within their businesses.
We want to be the go-to platform for all women looking for successful careers, which will transform the global statistics.
Female Founders Fair
Education, Skills & Career www.femalefoundersfair.com
Looking for: Seed Investment £150,000/ Feedback/ Advice and Introductions
Eleanor Hudson
Amelia Wollaston
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
Eleanor is an extremely curious person who thrives off new challenges and wishes to change the face of what women in business looks like. Eleanor graduated from Northumbria University with a BA in Entrepreneurial Business Management and spent summer 2016 in Silicon Valley where her love for the start-up world, disruption and innovation was born. Eleanor founded several companies whilst studying and in the last 12 months has immersed herself in the London startup ecosystem, working with multiple high-growth startups such as Tech Nation and flatfair on all things talent related and employee branding. Alongside this Eleanor is has been running Female Founders Fair for over a year, an organisation dedicated to helping young women take control of their career dreams.
Amelia is a constantly vibrant individual whose approach is to take a positive attitude and embrace challenges that expand her knowledge. During her degree at Edinburgh University she explored diverse experiences from the co-founding of a textiles collective, to leading a consultancy team for a surfing charity. She also found time to be Head of Hair and Makeup for the largest university fashion show in Europe. After graduating she has explored the startup space, working in Marketing for the globally know and female-founded makeup brand Charlotte Tilbury, to her current role at Billion Dollar Boy working in the growing Influencer Marketing space. She thrives off variety and constantly rises to the challenge, using her creative background to provide unique solutions outside of conventional thought.
art-K’s HQ has been running for 20 years and it was started in reaction to there not being enough art at school for children. With schools’ budgets being cut and a focus on STEM subjects, Art is being taught less and less.
At art-K, we have a unique Art curriculum that’s skills-based, addressing the areas that schools cannot: fine motor control, visual memory, visual perception and spatial awareness. art-K’s ambition is to provide a personalised artistic education to every child, by recruiting highly-dedicated, child-centred people to run each branch.
Since incorporating in July 2016, we have launched 22 clubs: 14 are franchises and 8 are directly-owned. By 2024, art-K aims to have 100 clubs in the UK and starting to lay plans for expansion overseas.
art-K Ltd
Emily Harper
Education, Art
Looking for: Feedback/ Advice and Introductions
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
Emily graduated from Bristol University with a 1st Class Honours in Chemistry. After a stint in Investment Banking, she decided that entrepreneurship offered a more varied and challenging role. Having always been involved in the arts throughout her life, she took a 50% share of equity and together with her partner launched art-K in July 2016.
After the art-K Franchise was launched, Emily looked for the next challenge and wanted to explore running directly-owned branches with employees. To finance this, Emily took a personal loan. Emily continues to seek growth through professional development and partnerships; from NEF she has thoroughly enjoyed being inspired and guided by mentors.
www.art-k.co.uk
Charlie T’s non-alcoholic spirit is the distillate of seven different botanicals. It’s multi-layered, sophisticated and refreshing. Designed to be drunk with premium tonic, alcohol-free and with zero sugar or calories, it’s the perfect drink if you want the delicious kick of a gin and tonic with none of the downsides.
Charlie T’s
Charlie Harnden
Food & Drink, Non Alcoholic
Looking for: Seed Investment
NEF Alumnus (Class of 2017)
Charlie is a Durham University graduate and NEF alumini. He currently works as an Operations Analyst at a $3bn AUM hedge fund.
While at university Charlie raised a six-figure seed investment round into his first company and launched it in Colorado.
He is a former England chess player and as a junior completed four tours of Europe.
www.drinkcharliets.com
At Adapt, we think it’s insane that students are still creating revision timetables by hand. With paper. And pens. And (sometimes) rulers. In 2019. Every year, millions of students waste hours of time on flimsy, inflexible documents that only end up being thrown out, ripped up or ignored when plans inevitably change – or because they don’t know what they need to do.
Adapt is the first dynamic revision timetable that actually works for students, giving them a prioritised list of tasks designed for them by subject specialists, and automatically adjusting their timetable each day to reflect what they did (or maybe didn’t) get done.
By combining the academic expertise of teachers with a simple but beautiful algorithm, we’ve created an intelligent timetable that keeps up. Fully customisable in look and feel, and with the ability to integrate real-life events into long-term goals, Adapt is set to become the place where students organise their work- and their life.
What our students are saying about us:“I loved it! Honestly, whoever uses it will be lucky because it’s such a useful resource.” Asha, Y13
Adapt
Maud Millar
Education
Looking for: Seed Investment £ 250-750,000/ Advice and Introductions
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
Maud graduated from the University of Cambridge in 2010, where she held a Choral Scholarship to read English Literature. She then went on to undertake a Masters in Vocal Performance (Opera) at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama before spending five years as a professional opera singer. In 2016, she decided to retrain, and became a member of Teach First Class of 2016, teaching English in a Secondary Academy in East London.
Maud is passionate about innovation in the education space, from EdTech to systematic changes empowering the next generation. She is eager to keep learning, and to bring her diverse skills to a host company.
We work with employers to define the curriculum of our courses, ensuring that our graduates meet job specifications required by the workplace.
Our courses are online, and utilise next-gen learning techniques, such as immersive challenges to ensure students are adept enough in cyber to enter roles.
Training is expensive, and most people don’t have the disposable income to afford it. We require no upfront payment, and only get paid back (in monthly instalments) when our students have graduated from our programme and are earning at least £35k.
By utilising income share agreements (ISAs) we align ourselves completely with the success of our students – we only get paid when they do. This encourages positive employment outcomes and ensures we deliver world-class content.
Propel
Ross Barry
Education
Looking for: Seed Investment £225,000/ Advice and Introductions
NEF Alumnus (Class of 2018)
Ross began his career in investment banking (M&A) initially at Credit Suisse and then PJT Partners. He decided to leave the industry to work on his own venture and eventually joined Prehype as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence.
Now an Operating Partner, Ross has worked on a range of concepts from ideation through to creating fully formed ventures backed by corporates such as Diageo, Coty and Nike, to name but a few. Whilst at Prehype, Ross has worked in industries including cosmetics, alcohol and cybersecurity and has developed a focus as an operations and / or product management lead.
Ross now works full-time on Propel, but is supported and remains part of Prehype.
GoSweat is breaking free of the traditional fitness benefits system. By appealing to the 94% of employees that don’t use their gym discounts, GoSweat enables employers to offer their staff a unique benefit.
By giving access to 1000s activity options, covering eveything from Tai Chi to Tango, Meditation to MMA, GoSweat gives the employees control over their wellbeing benefits. Our activities go beyond a workout: with our carefully selected providers you can now explore new horizons, discover your next passion and be inspired. Plus we help you stay motivated every step of the way. Our reward system gives you that extra carrot to make the next activty that bit more enticing.
We’re a team of 10, having raised £300k investment in October, including from our chaiman who setup the largest UK benefits platform. Since then we have llaunched with some of the biggest and best companies in London, many of which are household names.
GoSweat
Alex Hind
Health/ Wellbeing
Looking for: Seed Investment £ 1.3 M / Advice and Introductions
NEF Current Cohort (Class of 2019)
Alex is the CEO and Co-founder of GoSweat. Having graduated from Newcastle in 2014, he joined the infamous Aldi Area Manager graduate scheme. Having completed the scheme and taken charge of 4 supermarkets, Alex craved innovation and excitement and left his role to start GoSweat.
GoSweat has a simple vision - to disrupt the entire sport and fitness space, making it easy to discover, book and enjoy the best local activities, without needing any kind of membership. Having launched in early 2018, GoSweat has had press coverage from The Telegraph, alongside international press and a partnership with Sport England.
www.gosweat.com
KNO is the world’s first real-time transparency platform for brands, factories and workers.
We have proven that happier workers makes factories more profitable,which allows brands to manage CSR at scale.
The world’s first real-time transparency platform for brands, factories and workers.
Get Kno
Marianne Caroline Hughes
Technology
Looking for: Seed Invenstment £1m
NEF Alumna (Class of 2016)
Marianne is a technology entrepreneur, award-winning writer, speaker and the Founder and CEO of KnoData.
Recognised as a thought leader in transparency and sustainable fashion, Marianne is pioneering a new industry standard for the world’s biggest brands to scale CSR efforts to reach millions of factory workers.
KnoData is the world’s first real-time transparency platform, that connects brands, factories, workers and consumers. The world’s biggest brands with risks across 1000s of factories can see how ethical their suppliers are and mitigate risks that could end up costing millions. Factories prove that happi-er workers are more productive, and through using KnoData have seen a 15% reduction in defects, employee turnover dropped by 40% and productivity increased by 20%. Workers are protected 24/7 and paid fairly.
Marianne is motivated by our urgent need to eradicate modern slavery and prove the ROI behind Cor-porate Social Responsibility (CSR). She has worked with a range of FTSE100s on CSR, ethical trade and technology solutions.
She has spent 2 years living in China and visiting 100s of factories across SE Asia. Marianne spent a week working at a clothes factory in China making 2000 pairs of trousers a day.
mariannecaroline.com
