Following the selection of the TOP 10 London startups on the 7th of August, the teams were mentored by leading industry professionals and were given two months to practice their pitches and refine the business strategy.

On the 3rd of October, the 10 London startups took part in the Regional Final of the IMAGINE IF! Global Accelerator. This year the TOP 10 London startups were:

• Concentric Health
• CortiCare
• ART Research
• BRAINCURES
• Aergo Ltd
• Fresh Check
• ThinAirWater Ltd
• Neo-Innovations UK Ltd
• SUTR (SUrgical TRaining) – Absent on the day of the competition
• Smart Flora

The winner of the Regional Final, ThinAirWater Ltd, was awarded a prize of £500, four free tickets to the Innovation Forum 2017: Leaders Conference and, most importantly, a chance to be part of the Global TOP 20 startups at the Global Final in Oxford on the 5th of December 2017. The second, Neo-Innovations UK Ltd, and third team, CortiCare, were awarded one free ticket each for one of their members to attend the Innovation Forum 2017: Leaders Conference.

The format of the Regional Final was structured in pitches of a length of strictly 3 minutes and 10 minutes for questions. The pitches were done in front of 80 attendees and a panel of four highly experienced judges: Letizia Goretti (Director for Portfolio Management and Business Operation for Johnson & Johnson Innovation), Dr. Patrick O’Brien (Performance and Projects Manager at MedCity), Dr. Thomas Prock (Chartered UK, German and European Patent Attorney) and Peter Bachmann (Director at Scottish Equity Partners).

Coming in third place, CortiCare aims at to build a point of care device for affordable, quick and accurate hormonal testing. Founded by Imperial College scientists Rafael Michali and Renato Circi, CortiCare is a proprietary technology consisting of a two-part device capable of carrying out endocrine analysis from a single drop saliva. Find out more at https://www.corticare.co.uk.

In the second place, Neo-innovations UK Ltd aims at preventing the 25,000 deaths linked to deep vein thrombosis. Founded in 2013 by Neomi Benett, a Kingston University graduate and registered nurse, the startup aims at providing Neo-slip, a device facilitating the application of medical stockings for patients and carers by reducing the friction between stocking and skin. In the last two years, Neo-slip has gained approval for listing on both the NHS Formulary and NHS supplies. Find out more at http://neo-slip.co.uk/dvt-and-neo-slip/.

The winners, ThinAirWater Ltd, aim to solve the worldwide problem of water scarcity by using a bio-membrane that condenses water from atmospheric air. Formed in 2016 by Imperial College scientists Jonathan Risley, Sam Bruggen, Muhammed Maktari and Jansen Teng, ThinAirWater Ltd takes inspiration from the way beetles capture water from the atmospheric air in arid deserts. The bio-membrane takes existing principles in nature combined with materials science to design a highly flexible surface onto which water condenses. In the future, the membrane will be added on the underside of solar panels or even on billboards to provide clean drinking water. Find out more at: http://thinairwater.com and support our winning team with the twitter hashtag: #WaterFromThinAir

Finally, congratulations to ThinAirWater Ltd again for winning the competition. Many thanks to our judges and anyone who attended the competition. See you next year!

The winners of the Regional Final, ThinAirWater Ltd (left to right): Muhammed Maktari, Sam Bruggen, Jonathan Risley and Jansen Teng.

Written by:

Hugo Villanueva

Management Associate