Winners
2024
The total amount raised to date by #21toWatch alumni has reached more than £710 million
In 2024, we highlighted that the Top 21 had collectively raised £110 million in a single year. In 2025, that number surged by 42%, with alumni raising over £183 million – bringing the total amount raised to date to more than £710 million (excluding CMR Surgical private equity, and undisclosed deals).
Full #21toWatch List
| Name | Synopsis | People/Company/Thing | Longlist | Shortlist | Top21 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thing | ✓ | ||||
| ACellZ |
Company | ✓ | |||
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| Dr Ahmed Waraky, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute and co-founder of K-Stem, is directing research that focuses on machine learning and single-cell omics to advance stem cell transplantation. |
People | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Company | ✓ | ||||
| Company | ✓ | ||||
| Dr Alicia Showering is a scientist and the founder of BugBiome, which pioneers sustainable pest control solutions through harnessing the microbiome. She has been recognised with a Young Innovator award from Innovate UK and recently closed a pre-seed round |
People | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Thing | ✓ | ||||
| Company | ✓ | ||||
| Company | ✓ | ||||
| Co-founded Deliver Biosciences, a method of genetically modifying cells directly inside the patients that could cure fatal diseases such as cancer in a fraction of the time and cost compared to existing curative therapies. Won an Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award. |
People | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| BeyondMath is using AI to solve the complex simulation of physics in engineering design orders of magnitude faster, providing reductions in time, cost and environmental impact when taking designs to production. |
Company | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Company | ✓ | ||||
| Thing | ✓ | ||||
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| Early, accurate detection. It is Cambridge Vision Technology’s mission to make the timely and accurate detection of Alzheimer's Disease available to everyone. |
Company | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Cellexcel provides the key to unlock the use of biomaterials and radically change industry's carbon footprint. It does this through molecular modification of biomaterials to enhance their essential performance properties. |
Company | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Chantal is Founder and CEO of ClicknClear, a music rights-tech and licensing company solving complex music licensing issues faced across choreographed sports and performing arts. |
People | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| People | ✓ | ||||
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| clock.bio aims to extend and improve quality of life by reversing the harmful effects of time in our cells, harnessing the regenerative capabilities of human pluripotent stem cells. |
Company | ✓ | ✓ | ||
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| Douglas is the founder of Matta - a startup developing the universal operating system for 3D printers, leveraging the latest machine learning research and the power of the cloud to bring intelligence to additive manufacturing to radically change how humans make things. |
People | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Thing | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Eating brings joy to many, poses challenges for some. Ediform crafts exceptional food for those who can no longer find pleasure in eating but require tailored nutrition for their well-being. |
Thing | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Antler Bio’s new platform, EPIHERD, is harnessing gene expression data and AI to evaluate the status of livestock and prescribe targeted husbandry interventions to increase performance, efficiency, welfare and sustainability. |
Thing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Company | ✓ | ||||
| ExpressionEdits’ proprietary intronization platform recodes transgenes to better resemble natural genes, leading to significant improvement in protein production – a key challenge for recombinant proteins and DNA medicines. |
Company | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Company | ✓ | ||||
| People | ✓ | ||||
| Gigabiome leverage the advances in next-generation sequencing, microbiome science and AI to build technology for diagnosing antimicrobial resistance. |
Company | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Thing | ✓ | ||||
| Company | ✓ | ||||
| Autopickr's flagship innovation is 'Gus,' a fully automated asparagus harvester. Gus incorporates cutting-edge AI and navigation technologies, robust robotics, and new cutting technology to optimise the harvesting process. |
Thing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| People | ✓ | ||||
| Heartfelt Technologies are the future of heart failure telemonitoring: An automatic, AI supported, non-contact telemonitoring solution for heart failure patients. |
Thing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| People | ✓ | ||||
| HotHouse Therapeutics harness plants to develop next-generation drugs by identifying pathways from source plants and creating synthetic ‘production crops’ for both existing and new molecules. |
Company | ✓ | |||
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| Company | ✓ | ||||
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| Innovative Approaches for Environmental Sustainability of Laboratories |
Thing | ✓ | |||
| People | ✓ | ✓ | |||
| Jack’s venture with Professor Erwin Reisner promises a new way to treat waste plastics. Based on interdisciplinary research at the University of Cambridge, their technology turns waste plastics into green hydrogen and valuable organics. |
People | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| People | ✓ | ||||
| People | ✓ | ||||
| Kuano combines state-of-the-art simulation and AI to add quantum detail to structure based drug discovery, helping to enable the design of next generation medicines. |
Company | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Lark Optics has developed a way to address the issue of AR sickness. The company has created AR glasses that project images directly onto the user’s retina, eliminating the depth mismatch that causes discomfort and physical symptoms. |
Thing | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Molyon has developed a new cathode material to enable high energy-density and long-life lithium-sulfur batteries. This opens up fundamentally new modes of transport and facilitates the net-zero transition. |
Thing | ✓ | |||
| Company | ✓ | ||||
| Mark is an award-winning design engineer and Co-founder of Cambridge Surgical Models, a MedTech start-up developing the next generation of artificial anatomical models for surgical training. |
People | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
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| Nadia is a plant biologist working on rehabilitating forgotten legumes back into the food system and is a co-founder of a startup that accelerates genetic improvements in challenging legume crops. |
People | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Company | ✓ | ||||
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| OPAU's no-heat technology helps industry removes up to 98% water, transforming products into waterless, lightweight, preservative-free dry sheets without compromising quality and performance. OPAU making waves without water. |
Thing | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Opto Biosystems are developing wireless, minimally-invasive, biological interfaces which communicate electrical information from the body, creating opportunities in advanced diagnostics and therapeutics, with primary focuses in oncology and neurology. |
Company | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| OutSee is a deep TechBio company exploiting our innovative computational approach to genomics for drug target discovery and precision medicine, extracting value from genomics datasets beyond the state-of-the-art. |
Company | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Company | ✓ | ||||
| Paolo and colleagues pioneered the development of a technology capable to generate electricity from the microbial photosynthesis. This novel technology can substitute portable batteries for powering billions of small electronic devices. |
People | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
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| Remedium Energy are developing a new carbon capture technology, carbon capture battery, that captures CO2 from cement/steel plants and monetizes the variation in electricity price to make carbon capture profitable. |
Company | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| People | ✓ | ||||
| Sam developed an adaptive platform which uses stories and games to educate children (2-12 yrs) with cancer about their specific cancer's biology and treatments. This app enables children to learn about their diagnosis at their own pace and in a safe environment, while encouraging helpful conversations between children and parents. |
People | ✓ | ✓ | ||
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| Our remote monitoring product empowers families and carers with insights, alerts, and support to maximise the quality of life for their loved ones and enable respite for carers. |
Thing | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Company | ✓ | ||||
| Swetha Kannan is a Cambridge International Scholar pursuing her PhD at the Dept of Medicine. She is a renowned scientist and highly honoured social entrepreneur. |
People | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| People | ✓ | ||||
| Tenyks is inventing the way humanity interacts with AI to protect and delight. To protect the world from the misuse of AI, but also to ensure that AI is developed with passion, excitement, and joy. |
Thing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Company | ✓ | ||||
| The Chemistry Shed is a new biotechnology business that uses an innovative in silico platform, developed by scientists at the UEA, to accelerate the discovery of new medicines. This platform will help to lower the cost and accelerate the development of new medicines whilst also providing training and employment opportunities for young scientists here in Norfolk. |
Thing | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| People | ✓ | ||||
| People | ✓ | ||||
| People | ✓ | ||||
| TraitSeq leverages cutting-edge AI to accurately predict complex agricultural traits, to develop high-yielding/climate-resilient crops, animal breeds, agrochemical/biological inputs, and gene edits to improve global food security and sustainable food production. |
Company | ✓ | ✓ | ||
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| Vector is a machine-learning enabled, drug delivery platform focused on oncology, facilitating novel treatments that are currently undruggable. We increase high local concentrations, minimise side effects, and allow room temperature storage of sensible cargoes. |
Company | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Verinnogen serves the global need of more accurate and reliable pre-clinical tumour measurements by digitising physical 3D profiles using its novel pin profiling technology, expediting clinical translation and saving lives. |
Thing | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Virilitas is dedicated to improving and optimising services and interventions around male reproductive health and fertility by translating cutting edge research into applications for clinical and at home use. |
Company | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| People | ✓ | ||||
| Developed an innovative point-of-care test with integrated blood-collection which simplifies the identification of various micronutrient deficiencies. With just a push of a button, William Oak Diagnostics are making maternal, child, and infant testing more accessible. |
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