THE OXFORD FOUNDRY COHORT 2: AUTUMN 2018 - SUMMER 2019
SUPPORTED BY SAID BUSINESS SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
H o u s e d a t t h e A m e r s i Fo u n d a t i o n A c c e l e r a t o r S p a c e L.E.V8 AT THE OXFORD FOUNDRY
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WELCOME to Demo Day at the Oxford Foundry
ANA BAKSHI DIRECTOR OF THE OXFORD FOUNDRY
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We are delighted to showcase the latest cohort of ventures from the OXFO L.E.V8 accelerator. Universities play a critical role in growing entrepreneurial ecosystems, and in driving forward global wealth creation and social impact. Drawing on Oxford’s multidisciplinary community and invaluable networks of alumni and experts, we are in a unique position to support a strong talent pool of earlystage entrepreneurs. Here at the Foundry, our approach is progressive, inclusive and international. We are creating, connecting and committed to a better future for all. The Foundry’s core aims are threefold: to build entrepreneurial leaders, to build thought leadership and skills in technology, and to build and accelerate ventures, but our aims push beyond this. We convene knowledge exchange between academia and industry, and we’re committed to upskilling the future work force and widening global participation in entrepreneurship, whilst encouraging more start-up capital to flow to the UK and Europe. Crucially, we put diversity at the heart of all we do: diversity of founders, diversity in investment, diversity in the industry experts we work with and the students we engage with. Our L.E.V8 Women initiative led to an increase in accelerator applications from female founders, and 50% of the teams on this cohort have women on their founding team. This will always be a priority for us - we’re here to demonstrate that entrepreneurship is a career pathway that all can pursue, regardless of race, gender or background. Our accelerator programme is already delivering real social and economic value
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for the global economy, with £5m+ raised in funding, and over 60 jobs created globally. With this latest L.E.V8 cohort, we’re nurturing ventures that tackle issues such as access to healthcare, financial inclusion, AI and early disease diagnosis and much more. Between them, they are already making their impact felt: they have saved over 5000kg of CO2 as a carbon footprint in the hospitality and catering industry; they have enabled children in remote villages in India to study for an additional 30 minutes each night, and women entrepreneurs in those communities to double their incomes. They have improved safe and efficient patient care, making savings for one NHS Trust that equate to more than £144k in a year, and enabled around 500,000 children from BAME backgrounds in 35 countries to see themselves represented in the stories they read. Since they joined us six months ago, each of these ten teams have been on their own intensive development journey. Through the Foundry, they’ve received a package of support worth over £600k, including access to a network of entrepreneurial experts and mentors, and a tailored learning programme. As they move on to the next chapter in their respective stories, they will remain part of our Foundry collective, and our network and community will be here to support them as they continue to grow and develop. We know that they will stay connected to us and to one another, and that they will contribute their experience and learnings to the cohorts that follow them. Our immense gratitude goes to the experts, advisors and mentors who have given their time and support to these teams in the past six months. These incredible people have made a huge, positive difference to the development of each participant, and we are hugely grateful for the support and guidance they continue to provide. Ana Bakshi Director, The Oxford Foundry
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OXFO L.E.V8:
OUR IMPACT IN ONE YEAR
60+
EXTRA JOBS CREATED GLOBALLY
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START-UPS SUPPORTED
$
£1.2M OF EQUITY-FREE SUPPORT PROVIDED
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DIFFERENT NATIONALITIES
£34.5M TOTAL CURRENT VENTURE VALUATION
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“OXFORD HAS NOW ESTABLISHED ITS OWN CENTRE OF ENTREPRENEURIAL GRAVITY. I’VE BEEN COMING TO OXFORD FOR YEARS AS A SILICON VALLEY SPEAKER AND A CONTRIBUTOR TO THE ECOSYSTEM HERE. WITH OXFO, OXFORD NOW HAS A CENTRE OF INNOVATION THAT WILL ONLY GET STRONGER. I’M GLAD TO BE A PART OF IT.” BIZ STONE, CO-FOUNDER, TWITTER
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The latest OXFO L.E.V8 cohort are already making their impact felt:
EMPOWER ENERGY (P.8) are enabling children in remote villages in India to study for an additional 30 minutes each night, and women entrepreneurs in those communities to double their incomes.
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LANTANA PUBLISHING (P.14) have already enabled c. 500,000 children from BAME backgrounds in 35 countries to see themselves represented in the stories they read.
OXWASH (P.18) have saved over 5000kg of CO2 as a carbon footprint in the hospitality and catering industry.
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EMPOWER ENERGY
empower-energy.co.uk
@EmpowerNRG
@EmpowerNRG
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Empower Energy is enabling rural consumers to get immediate access to high quality appliances within walking distance of their home, without any upfront costs, starting with lighting. Through its product-as-a-service model, customers rent lamps and other appliances from their local village shopkeeper, who is an entrepreneur and an Empower franchisee. Empower’s distribution model means that villagers are able to use life-changing technologies to help transform their lives. In the villages where their lighting solution is in place, children are able to study for an additional 30 minutes each night, and women entrepreneurs are able to work for longer and have doubled their income.
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“CONNECTING RURAL INDIA TO THE MODERN ECONOMY�
TEAM: Ronit Kanwar Co-Founder, CEO Ronit is an award-winning entrepreneur who brings experience in strategy and finance, as well as knowledge of and connections in India. He is in charge of fundraising, business development and partnerships. As an Indian national, Ronit has a strong passion for making change in his country of origin. BSc Economics & Management, Keble College, University of Oxford (2019, Moritz Heyman Scholar & Future Global Leaders Fellow), Forbes 30 under 30, World Economic Forum Global Shaper. Gideon Laux Co-Founder, COO Gideon brings experience in scale-up and sustainability strategy across 9 countries and
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14 industries from social enterprises, tech start-ups and global Fortune 500 companies. At Empower, he is in charge of operations, resourcing and finance. MSc Economics for Development, Somerville College, University of Oxford (2018, Rotary Scholar). James Dickson Co-Founder, Data & Impact Advisor James brings experience in impact measurement and strategy having worked at the UN for over 6 years on multi-million-dollar technical assistance programmes across 40 countries. MBA & MSc in Evidence-based Social Intervention and Policy Evaluation (2018, Pershing Square Scholar), Green Templeton College, University of Oxford.
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INFOGRID
“MAKING BUSINESSES, BUILDINGS AND EQUIPMENT MORE EFFICIENT WITH SCALABLE IOT TECHNOLOGY”
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app.infogrid.io
Blue Chip businesses openly acknowledge that digital transformation is impossible without IoT. Before now, IoT solutions have either been prohibitively expensive, too complicated, or usually both. INFOGRID’s powerful, simple and low-cost solution solves that. A fully endto-end Sensor+SaaS service which includes retrofittable micro hardware, cloud storage and a digital platform, INFOGRID makes IoT globally scalable in a way not possible before now. They are already working with ten large corporates to automate things like desk occupancy monitoring, Legionnaires’ checks for landlords and cold chain management – and they’re doing it at less than a tenth of the cost of previous solutions.
TEAM: William Cowell de Gruchy CEO Will graduated from Oxford (History) in 2009, and initially spent two years as an Emerging Market Equity Analyst with Fidelity International. He then became an Army Officer, where his near five years and multiple overseas deployments taught him the value of simplicity. After leaving, he became a commercial due diligence analyst (buy side) for private equity acquisitions. Here he identified the problem that INFOGRID now solves, and learned the importance of commercial viability in any solution. Simon Shillaker CTO Simon graduated from Oxford (Physics) in 2010 and initially entered the world of algorithmic trading as a developer. He earned two Masters’ degrees in financial computing before founding eporta.com, a successful digital marketplace for furniture. He’s now undertaking a PhD (Imperial) in Distributed Computing, and advises and works with INFOGRID part-time. His work on algorithms has helped INFOGRID to build an incredibly powerful solution that’s still simple to use.
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Bernhard Wenzl Techologist Bernhard graduated from the University of Hamburg (Computer Science) in 2004. He has over 15 years of development experience, including at the prestigious Fraunhofer Institute. His deeply technical back-end development expertise has enabled him to build the INFOGRID architecture so that it can handle millions of disparate data points in real time while delivering a seamless solution to end users. Rupert Lane Head of Sales Rupert graduated from King’s College London (History and War Studies) in 2005. He knows B2B sales intimately, and understands how to build and lead teams. Having spent five years as an Army Officer (where he won a Military Cross) he had an excellent grounding in leadership before joining Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he led a $250m a year Equity Research Sales team as a VP. No stranger to uncertainty (he survived the team being cut from >40 to 2 people), he’s ideally placed to build and lead the INFOGRID sales team.
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INTELLICHARGE
Intellicharge.co.uk
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Intellicharge is a software start-up with a mission to power electric vehicles (EVs) with the cheapest and cleanest energy, while helping grid balance. Using the IoT approach, they connect EVs and/or EV charging infrastructure with multiple energy market dynamics, including electricity wholesale and system prices, and renewable energy generation profile, etc., to optimise and automatically control EV energy consumption. The software has already integrated with established EV and EV charging infrastructure brands, run two consumer trials, and is currently delivering a pilot project for UK’s leading independent energy supplier to develop a consumer offering centred around EV flexibility.
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“POWERING ELECTRIC VEHICLES WITH THE GREENEST AND CHEAPEST ELECTRICITY, WHILE HELPING GRIDS BALANCE”
TEAM: Pam Liu CEO Pam has 8 years of Mergers and Acquisitions experience in the European Power sector at Citigroup and National Grid plc. She has a thorough understanding of energy regulation, having worked closely with Ofgem and Elexon (UK’s electricity balancing and settlement code). She is serving as a voting member for Elexon workgroups on 1) P362: creating a electricity market sandbox process for innovation and 2) P370: meter-behind-meter settlement. She holds a BA (hons) in Mathematics and Statistics from Keble College, University of Oxford, and a Masters in Finance from London Business School, sponsored by Citigroup.
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Ling Li CTO Ling has 20 years of experience in software development and senior management at BNP Paribas and Goldman Sachs, where he was highly recognised for introducing technical innovation and for growing and nurturing strong development teams. Ling provides software consultancy for the UK’s energy sector covering industry data flow and CRM/billing systems. He holds a BSc in Information and Systems Engineering from Imperial College London.
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LANTANA PUBLISHING lantanapublishing.com
@lantanapub
lantanapublishing
Lantana_Publishing
Lantana Publishing is an impact-driven social storytelling venture with a mission to see all children reflected in the stories they read. In a country where only 1% of children’s books feature a minority ethnic hero or heroine, Lantana creates the next generation of inclusive main characters for children to look up to. With over twenty awards and accolades already won for their published books, they’re going one step further to build an online story sharing platform connecting under-represented authors with new readers: a unique combination of tech-based content curation, publishing house and IP-based rights agency that has no current equivalent in children’s content.
lantana-publishing-ltd
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“BECAUSE ALL CHILDREN DESERVE TO SEE THEMSELVES IN THE BOOKS THEY READ.” TEAM: Dr Alice Curry Chief Executive Officer Alice is the 2017 winner of the Kim Scott Walwyn Prize for women in publishing. A former academic lecturer and freelance editor, Alice holds a PhD in children’s literature, has published regularly in international journals, and is a frequent keynote speaker at conferences across Europe. Passionate about spearheading change in children’s publishing, Alice commissions award-winning children’s books by authors and illustrators whose heritage stems from over twenty-five countries. Alice holds an English Language and Literature BA from St Hilda’s College, Oxford, and a MA and PhD in Children’s Literature from Macquarie University, Sydney, where she was also an Associate Lecturer. Dr Katrina Gutierrez Chief Communications Officer Katrina is a children’s literature specialist from the Philippines. Following a PhD in children’s literature, where she met Alice, she has received fellowships from several international research centres and given lectures on children’s literature to university students, authors and illustrators in
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the Philippines, Australia and Denmark. Katrina now manages Lantana’s communications, spreading the word about Lantana’s books and supporting its authors and illustrators. Stephanie Weber Projects Intern Stephanie is a journalist with experience working in Public Relations and Communications for companies and cultural institutions. She has always had a passion for storytelling and illustration and, hailing from Chile, was immediately attracted by Lantana’s books and its mission. Stephanie is currently studying an MBA at Saïd Business School in Oxford. Maleeha Mir Publicity Intern Maleeha has a passion for children’s books and a particular interest in publicity and marketing. She has previously undertaken publicity internships with Hachette and Tiny Owl Publishing and has volunteered for IBBY, the Sociey of Young Publishers and Together Kid’s Literary Festival. Maleeha is currently studying for a BA in English Language and Literature at Kings College London.
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N Y E H E A LT H We all aspire to a life which is healthy, happy and lasts until a ripe old age. Nye wants to release the power in personal data, the health system and local communities to move everyone closer to this aspiration. They have built some potent data capabilities which start to make this possible. Their data-driven applications will put your friendly local GP, the best of your community and the health system of the future in your pocket.
“ENABLING GPs TO BUILD DIGITAL-FIRST PRIMARY CARE PRACTICES”
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Nye have deployed compliant products in the NHS, created the ability for 40+ million citizens to unleash the power of their medical records, established partnerships with large NHS providers and a pipeline to 0.5% of the U.K. population. Their mission is to build the kindest community on earth, and they are unusually positioned in a global market which is worth more than £1 trillion.
nye.health
@meetnye
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TEAM: Dr Alexander Finlayson CEO and Head of Product Alexander graduated with honours, distinction and the finals prize in medicine, has 10 years’ experience developing award winning digital health products (raised > £8 million in grant funding for healthcare innovation) and continues to practice as a General Practitioner two sessions each week. He is a Doll Fellow at Green Templeton College, Oxford, was a Kennedy Scholar at Harvard University studying systems biology and Head of Research at the King’s Centre for Global Health. He was awarded British Medical Journal junior doctor of the year in 2012 for founding a DFID-funded technology company which delivers capacity building interventions in the health sector in fragile states with a particular focus on Somalia. Dr Imran Mahmud Co-Founder and Head of Growth Imran trained in medicine at the University of Oxford, where he was a Lecturer at Hertford College, and a specialist surgical trainee in the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals. Imran was awarded a Master of Public Health (healthcare management) from Harvard University as a UK-US Fulbright Scholar (2013/14), before joining McKinsey and Company in London. During Imran’s 3 years at McKinsey, he led multiple projects, including several large scale technology and machine learning implementations with global pharmaceutical companies focussing on the analysis of medical and healthcare claims record databases using a variety of machine learning models. Dr Chris Tan Co-Founder and Head of Operations Chris is a certified project manager (PRINCE2) and operations specialist. Following his PhD, Chris led the implementation of nextgeneration sequencing into front line clinical care in a major UK teaching hospital, working alongside a large team of clinicians, scientists, regulatory experts and industry partners. Chris’
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prior experience includes working as an expert consultant with the pharmaceutical industry, and serving as Chief Operations Officer and Project Lead at MedicineAfrica, where he was responsible for day-to-day management of a multi-million-pound grant jointly awarded to MedicineAfrica and King’s College London for the delivery of technology-enabled medical education online to partners in Somaliland. Dr William Edwards Head of Technology William holds a first-class MEng and a PhD in machine learning and artificial intelligence from the University of Edinburgh. Throughout his career, William has worked on building technology and platforms to derive meaning from data. In his most recent role at a leading defence engineering firm, William led on the delivery of a technology pipeline for a major “big data” computing cluster for the development of cutting-edge military radar applications. Dr Blythe Wilkinson Regulatory Lead Blythe is an experienced GP, having served as a partner at Hedena Health (GP practice in Oxford) for almost 20 years. She is a trained clinical safety expert, and was the lead contact for the CQC for a large practice (25k patients) in Oxford for many years. She has been involved in several successful “turn-around” efforts for failing practices in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. Blythe leads on clinical safety and governance for Nye, and is the Clinical Safety Officer. Dr Amelia Martin User Engagement and Community Lead Amelia is driven by how we can harness technology to tackle the social determinants of health. She took a year to study Philosophy to understand the drivers behind human behaviour, which inspired her to tackle prevention at a community level. As an NHS Clinical Entrepreneur she has advised health tech founders as part of a STEM venture builder. She also worked at NHS England where she was a clinical advisor leading on technology and prevention in outpatient care.
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OXWASH
“CIRCULARISING THE LAUNDRY, LINEN AND GARMENT CARE ECONOMY”
oxwash.com
L.E.V8 AT THE OXFORD FOUNDRY
@oxwash
@oxwash
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OXWASH makes laundry and dry cleaning truly sustainable by uniquely combining the latest in renewable technology, next-generation logistics and biodegradable detergent chemistry. Partnering with outstanding businesses from market leading chemistry experts at Ideal Manufacturing, to renewable energy solutions from Tesla has enabled OXWASH to drive towards true sustainability - a market and
industry first. OXWASH is already disrupting a traditional industry, winning national recognition and awards as well as gaining clients such as a national broadcaster, the UK military, and a world-leading university. With a first-of-its-kind partnership with Deliveroo launching in Q3 2019, OXWASH are also using their innovative washing platform to tackle one of the world’s biggest issues, that of single use plastic waste.
TEAM: Kyle Grant CEO Kyle co-founded OXWASH in 2017 with the current chairman Dr Aron Ping D’Souza. With a background as a research scientist at NASA and a DPhil in Synthetic Biology from the University of Oxford, Kyle is leading the team with an engineering rationale. He drives the innovation and sustainability focus of OXWASH, aiming to ensure growth and development whilst maintaining excellent customer satisfaction, and without sacrificing core sustainability values. Dr Aron Ping D’Souza Chairman & Co-Founder Aron and Kyle have worked together for many years in successful fundraising, sporting events and philanthropic ventures. With a background in billion-dollar asset management and in venture capital, Aron is central to the financial management and long term vision of OXWASH. Dr D’Souza read law at the University of Oxford and was a member of Harris Manchester College.
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Zara French Operations Manager Zara has a background in growing integrated process and logistics start-ups. With an eye for detail and for the wellbeing of the team, Zara is invaluable to the overall operations of OXWASH. Ben Towler Commercial Manager Ben manages the acquisition and service to OXWASH’s commercial clients. A graduate of the Central St Martins School of Art, he brings a creative skillset to the team’s processes, marketing, and overall vision for sustainability. Joe Haddock Logistics Joe manages the day-to-day logistics of OXWASH making sure that every laundry exchange is on time and every item is clean and ready to wear. As a narrowboat resident, Joe uses OXWASH every week himself and keeps a very close eye on their quality and commitment to sustainability. Jamie Qualter Customer Experience Jamie is an OXWASH rider as well as their customer experience manager. He has expertise ranging from cycle couriering to county-wide customer service.
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SCALEWORK
makescalework.com
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Despite an abundance of sophisticated tools and methods already available, over 80% of all companies are still struggling to generate meaningful impact from their data. Companies report that a massive lack in data expert capacity is the single largest obstacle to evolving into a data-driven organisation. SCALEWORK is serving this growing demand by building a platform for on-demand data operations. They are solving companies’ single biggest pain point in AI and analytics – a lack of access to talent – by matching their data projects with international expertise and execution capabilities – all on one secure, privacy compliant and easy to use platform. SCALEWORK enables companies to build and scale their data organisation with analytics and AI.
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“SCALING DATA ORGANISATION WITH ANALYTICS AND AI” TEAM: Frederic Krahforst CEO and Co-Founder Frederic has a MSc in Information and Software Security from Kellogg College, Oxford, a MSc in Finance from Rotterdam School of Management, and a BSc in Knowledge Engineering from Maastricht University. He was formerly CEO & Co-founder of hawk:AI, and VP of Data and VP of Strategy & Operations at European Media conglomerate. Frederic has more than 5 years experience in the Venture Capital and Banking sectors.
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Tobias Nendel CTO and Co-Founder Tobias has a BSc in Information Systems from the Technical University Munich and a CDTM Honors Degree. He is a successful serial entrepreneur, including as CTO & Co-Founder of Outfittery (£60+m raise to date), Co-Founder of Medikura Digital Health, and others. Professor Dr Michael Bücker CSO and Co-Founder Michael is a Professor of Data Science at the Münster School of Business at FH Münster University of Applied Sciences. He has a PhD in Statistics and a Diploma in Statistics from TU Dortmund University, and spent 7 years as Data Science Lead at McKinsey & Company.
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S E E-T H R O U G H SCIENTIFIC
see-through.com
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See-Through Scientific’s mission is to lower the cost of advanced cancer care, specifically cell therapy and liquid biopsy, by providing innovative devices for live-cell analytics and enrichment. They have built an efficient holographic imaging and machine learning platform that allows them to measure and classify thousands of unlabelled cells in parallel. They have developed two prototype devices that leverage the platform, one for in-line monitoring of CAR-T cell expansion, and one for the isolation of live circulating tumour cells. They have been funded by two Innovate UK grants and one Cancer Research UK Pioneer Award, and they now plan to increase their capacity to complete product research and development.
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“ENABLING EARLIER GENOMIC ANALYSES OF TUMOURS, AND PERSONALISED, TIMELY TREATMENT OF CANCER”
TEAM: Dr Irwin Zaid Co-Founder Irwin is trained as a computer scientist and physicist. He has a doctorate in Theoretical Physics from the University of Oxford (2012). His doctoral work, which was based around digital holographic microscopy, led to the award of a Junior Research Fellowship from Christ Church, University of Oxford. He has had a distinguished academic career with highly cited publications in biological physics, and is a lecturer in Computer Science at Christ Church.
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Dr Oliver Harriman Co-Founder Oliver has degrees in physics and engineering. He worked in industry on the early formulation of Sugru, and solved opto-mechanical design challenges for Laser Quantum Ltd. He developed expertise in optical system design and the imaging of live cancer cells during his doctorate in the Oxford University Department of Physics (2013), and knowledge of microfluidic fabrication techniques during a JSPS fellowship in the Tokyo University Department of Applied Chemistry. In Oxford, he successfully captained the University Amateur Boxing team for the 2011-12 season.
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SOCIABILITY
“EMPOWERING PEOPLE OF ALL ABILITIES TO GREATER SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT”
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SociAbility empowers social inclusion by making it easy to find detailed and reliable access information for social venues and shops. Think Google Maps for access information. They’re an ambitious social enterprise, building a crowdsourced database by the community, for the community. Recognising that everyone has different access needs, they don’t use labels like ‘accessible’ or ‘inaccessible’. Instead, SociAbility gives you the information you need to judge accessibility for yourself (number of stairs, door width, noise level, bathroom type etc). So, whether you’re disabled, elderly, pushing a pram, or simply with a friend or loved one who is, the SociAbility mobile app is a fast, free and functional way to find the answers you need. Everywhere. Every time.
sociability.app
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@ sociabilityapp
sociabilityapp
sociabilityapp
sociabilityapp
TEAM: Matt Pieri CEO and Co-Founder Matt leads the SociAbility team on its mission to empower greater social inclusion through better access information. As founder & CEO, Matt oversees the day-to-day operations of SociAbility, and manages key partnership relations, fundraising and product testing, as well as guiding SociAbility’s broader strategic vision and mission. Emma Bluemke Head of Operations Emma is in charge of all-things-operational at SociAbility, working hard to keep everything running smoothly and on track to hit their milestones and goals. She has a DPhil in Biomedical Engineering from New College, Oxford. Julien Sanders Head of Product Julien is SociAbility’s resident technical expert and passionate about building mobile apps and software products that best empower our users. Julien is a Data Scientist at Dentsu Aegis in London and has previously worked at the Financial Times and Channel 4. Anna Lavrova Head of Marketing Anna is passionate about connecting SociAbility with the right audiences and partners to
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grow their user base and maximise their data collection. She is a Commercial Project Manager at Dentsu Aegis in London and has significant experience with programmatic marketing and advertising. Dr Andrés Noé Head of Strategy Andrés is passionate about empowering users to enjoy greater social inclusion with a particular view to achieving better health outcomes. As the resident medical doctor in the team, Andrés works to ensure that SociAbility remains as helpful and functional as possible to a broad base of users and faithful to their impactfocused mission. Andrès has a DPhil in Clinical Medicine from Green Templeton College, Oxford. Kaleem Hawa Head of Partnerships Kaleem is passionate about growing SociAbility’s network of partners and supporters to maximise their impact and reach. With experience in management consulting and public sector work, Kaleem works to ensure that SociAbility remains connected to all the right players to help make the world a more sociable place for all. Kaleem has a DPhil in Population Health from Lincoln College, Oxford.
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WOW YOU!
wowyou.com
@wowyoubeauty
@wowyoubeauty
@wowyoubeauty
company/18927557
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WOW YOU! creates naturally powered, cruelty free skincare products with clean, effective ingredients. Their products encourage self-care and self-confidence, contributing to improved mental wellbeing. Natural ingredients such as green tea and hibiscus provide real, targeted results. The brand caters to an emerging market in clean, non-toxic beauty driven by millennial consumers who value ethical roots and strong customer interaction. WOW YOU! launched to customers in August 2018 and have since sold their products to customers all over the world. They are stocked by Urban Outfitters, Riley Rose (Forever21) and Aerie (American Eagle) in the US and are due to launch with Boots’ Beauty Finds program this year.
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“AFFORDABLE, CRUELTY-FREE, NATURALLY POWERED SKINCARE FOR THE MILLENNIAL CONSUMER” TEAM: Ella O’Connor Co-founder and CEO At a young age, Ella was inspired by her entrepreneurial late Grandfather, Jon Carlsen, who invented the alloy wheel and produced wheels for car manufacturers globally. Graduating from her MEng Materials Science degree at Corpus Christi College in 2017, Ella went into a graduate research scientist role at Dyson. Noticing a gap in the skincare market from her own experiences with trying to find cruelty free products suitable for her skin, Ella quit her job and started WOW YOU! with Leo in 2018. She is driven to follow in her Grandfather’s footsteps and has a passion for solving problems innovatively and resourcefully.
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Leo Greenaway Co-founder and CEO Leo was born in Hong Kong and moved to the UK in 1997. He was studying business and entrepreneurship at university when he was temporarily paralysed from the chest downwards by a rare auto-immune illness. He then spent almost a year in hospital recovering and learning how to walk again. He soon realised that he didn’t need to return to university and instead set up his own online advertising & website building business. He has a drive and a passion to learn, improve and reach his goals and WOW YOU! is the result of years of determination and hard work.
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NOTES
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“THE OXFORD FOUNDRY IS A PLACE TO ENGAGE, NURTURE AND INSPIRE THE TALENTED STUDENTS WHO WILL GO ON TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS AND BUILD THE INSTITUTIONS OF THE FUTURE. IT IS AN HONOUR TO BE ON THIS JOURNEY WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.” REID HOFFMAN, CO-FOUNDER, LINKEDIN
“THE OXFORD FOUNDRY HAS CREATED A FORUM FOR STUDENTS TO WORK ACROSS DISCIPLINES, LEARN FROM EACH OTHER, BE GUIDED BY MENTORS, AND BE INSPIRED BY WORLD-LEADING ENTREPRENEURS AND INDUSTRIALISTS. I HOPE ONE OF THESE YOUNG STARS WILL CREATE THE NEXT TRILLION-DOLLAR COMPANY – PREFERABLY IN OXFORD!”
“BEING PART OF THE FOUNDRY’S FIRST EVER L.E.V8 ACCELERATOR COHORT WAS TRULY GAME-CHANGING FOR US. WE’RE IMPRESSED THAT AS A UNIVERSITY-BASED ACCELERATOR, THEY HAVE THE ABILITY TO MOVE FAST AND THE STRONG INVESTOR NETWORKS THAT ARE SO VALUABLE TO VENTURES LIKE OURS.”
PROFESSOR CHAS BOUNTRA, OXFORD UNIVERSITY’S PRO VICE-CHANCELLOR FOR INNOVATION
JASON LACOMBE, CO-FOUNDER, VERATRAK FROM COHORT 1 OF L.E.V8 L.E.V8 AT THE OXFORD FOUNDRY
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GET INVOLVED
We’d love to hear from angel investors, experts and mentors who are interested in contributing their time and knowledge as part of L.E.V8. Please reach out to us, and we’ll be in touch with next steps. info@oxfordfoundry.ox.ac.uk oxfordfoundry.ox.ac.uk @oxfoundry @oxfordfoundry facebook.com/oxfound linked.com/in/oxford-foundry
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AM E R S I FO U N DAT IO N
With thanks to the Amersi Foundation for the Amersi Foundation Accelerator space. L.E.V8 AT THE OXFORD FOUNDRY
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