White City Innovation District Podcast

As part of the London Tech Week 2026 Fringe Event, Nexus and Imperial College London convened founders and investors to share the hard-won lessons from the critical early years of building a venture.

There were candid conversations, real-world experiences, and practical insights for anyone building within the West London ecosystem and beyond. Whether you’re at day one or day 900, this is gold dust.

Investor Panel:

• Adam Cragg, Partner – Osney Capital
• Maureen Haverty, Investment Principal – Seraphim
• Tom Weatherall, Senior Analyst – Amadeus Capital

Chair: John Anderson, Chief Investment Officer, Imperial College London

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As part of the London Tech Week 2026 Fringe Event, Nexus and Imperial College London brought together founders and investors to share the hard-won lessons from the critical early years of building a venture.

There were candid conversations, real-world experiences, and practical insights for anyone building within the West London ecosystem and beyond. Whether you’re at day one or day 900, this is gold dust. 

Founders Panel:

• Julia Fan Li, CEO & Co-founder – Micrographia
• Claire Trant, CEO – Untap
• Rima Suppan, Co-Founder – Peachies
• Fryderyk Szydlowski, Co-Founder & CEO – Embargo

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A recording from the Deep Tech Network's Investor series in February 2026, featuring a panel of synthetic biology investors and Cian Duggan, CEO of Resurrect Bio which has recently raised a $10.3 million Series A.  This podcast will help "synbio"/engineering biology startups understand what funders are looking for in today’s climate and how to position your startup for success.

SPEAKERS

Cian Duggan, CEO & Co-Founder, Resurrect Bio

George Darrah, General Partner, Systemiq Capital

Caterina Rigoni, Marketing & Ecosystems Director, Sciopolis

Oliver Sexton, Investment Director, Future Planet Capital

Chair: John Anderson, CIO, Imperial College London

Thanks for Advanced Research Clusters (ARC) and Appleyard Lees for supporting this event. 

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A recording from the Deep Tech Network's Investor series on 16 July 2025, featuring a panel of AI and quantum investors.  This podcast will help you understand gain what funders are looking for in today’s climate and how to position your startup for success.

SPEAKERS

Amelia Armour, Partner, Amadeus Capital

Prof Deeph Chana, Imperial Business School & ex-MD, NATO DIANA

Kurtis Gann, Head of UK, Serendipity Capital

Rebeca Santamaria-Fernandez, Director, Business & Corporate Development, Google DeepMind

John Anderson, CIO, Imperial College London

Thanks for Advanced Research Clusters (ARC) and Appleyard Lees for supporting this event. 

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Nexus and Imperial Business School hosted a London Tech Week fringe at Scale Space in the White City Innovation District (WCID) in June 2025, discussing Can entrepreneurship really be taught – or is it something you’re born with?

PANEL:

Angela Stathi - Deep-Tech Investment Expert | Brazil Tech Connect - Co-Founder | European Commission - Expert

Angela is a C-Level Executive, Board Member, Advisor, and Chair for deep tech and innovation companies. She has worked with blue-chip companies, growth-stage ventures, VC firms and multilateral organisations. She is the Co-Founder of Brazil Tech Connect, an organisation fostering collaboration and innovation between the Brazilian, UK, and European tech ecosystems.

As a Deep Tech Investment Expert, she advises the European Commission’s €10 billion European Innovation Council Fund, supporting the growth of deep tech in Europe. Angela also serves as the Chair of Digital Boost, an AI-driven platform helping SMEs grow through digital upskilling and mentoring. Her executive career includes global leadership roles at Schroders, BNP Paribas, Moody’s, and Fitch.

Antoinette Nothomb (Co-founder, Cyanoskin): Antoinette is co-Founders of Cyanoskin, a new carbon capture technology utilising an algae based-coating designed to transform buildings into carbon dioxide-absorbing structures, reducing emissions and addressing urban pollution. Once applied, the photosynthetic coating grows and thickens, allowing it to capture carbon dioxide in urban environments.

Antoinette was previously founder of ERNESST, a startup specializing in constructing small, sustainable housing. She has a Master's degree in Entrepreneurship.

Cllr. Stephen Cowan (Leader, LBHF): Stephen has been the Leader of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) since 2014. Under his leadership, H&F has developed a national reputation for its bold approach to change. Stephen set up a ground-breaking industrial strategy partnership with Imperial College London (ICL) designed to make H&F a global hotspot in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and creative industries. Find out more about H&F's Upstream London strategy here.

Kalyan Sarma (Head of Innovation, Ploughshare): Ploughshare is the hub that makes UK government innovations prosper. Kalyan leads climate and sustainability innovation at Ploughshare, working with the UK government and MOD. He is also a Non-executive Advisor at Arthur D Little and an Advisory Board member at Innegev. With a PhD in nanotechnology from Cambridge, he has held senior roles in industry and government, including at UKRI and a FTSE 250 chemical company, and has worked globally across innovation and commercialisation.

Andrew Humphries (Chair): Andrew Humphries, is currently a Visiting Lecturer and Entrepreneur in Residence at Imperial College London. As a co-founder of The Bakery, Andrew brings extensive experience in helping entrepreneurs scale their businesses. A seasoned entrepreneur himself, he achieved notable success with Adeptra, a fintech that raised $43 million and was acquired by FICO in 2013 for $135 million. Additionally, Andrew has served as a negotiator for the Department of International Trade (DIT), focusing on attracting companies to establish their headquarters in the UK.

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The best bits from our Deep Tech Network investor series held in September.

Thank you to the panel for their insights, candour and for staying till the bitter end to talk to the startups in attendance.

• Alyssa Gilbert – Director, Undaunted & Director of Innovation, Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment
• Jonathan Pollock – CEO, Elbow Beach Capital
• Rubina Singh – Investor, Foresight Group
• Sarah Jones- Investor, Zero Carbon Capital (ZCC)
• John Anderson (chair) – Chief Investment Officer, Imperial College London

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🦸🏽‍♀️Unlocking Leadership & Innovation in Tech - London Tech Week🦸‍♂️

A 25-minute podcast with the best bits from Upstream and Imperial Enterprise Department's event at 2024's London Tech Week.

It took place at Scale Space White City where an expert panel discussed the leadership and strategies required to encourage and introduce innovation into a company’s culture and practices.

White City Innovation District: Home to world-leading researchers and ground-breaking enterprises working on today’s greatest challenges and shaping tomorrow’s world: https://www.whitecityinnovationdistrict.org.uk/

To attend more great events like this one, sign up to Upstream's mailing list: Upstream - Upstream (move-upstream.org.uk)

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PANEL 

Dr Shakiba Kaveh, CEO - MitraBio

Shakiba is CEO of Mitra Bio which is building a non-invasive skin multi-omics platform to unravel skin health and delay ageing. The global anti-aging market was worth $60 billion in 2020. However for the past 50 years, skincare and anti-ageing products have targeted the signs of ageing - such as eliminating wrinkles - rather than stopping cellular ageing itself.

Mitrabio has raised investment from Illumina Accelerator, Entrepreneur First, First-in Ventures and Cambridge & Peterborough Combined Authority. It is developing a longevity tool for skincare companies based on DNA methylation signatures which are associated with skin quality and age. This will differentiate skin conditions (old vs young; UV-damaged vs healthy) and lead to skincare personalisation and development of novel anti-ageing formulations.

Shakiba has a PhD in Materials Science from Cambridge, over five years' experience in management consultancy, and is a former scientist at L'Oréal.

Jasper Joyce - Director of People Acceleration - Blenheim Chalcot: Jasper leads People operations at BC. This includes leading the Red Team (BC's dedicated training organisation) and the BC Centre for Generative AI Innovation, as well as HR operations. Jasper also supports BC's Edtech portfolio, including being CEO and then Chair of the Board at Avado. Before joining Blenheim Chalcot, Jasper was part of the founding team of a new university. Prior to this he was a strategy consultant working across education and adjacent sectors.

Professor Markus Perkmann - Vice-Dean (Research and Faculty) Imperial College Business School

Markus is Vice-Dean (Research & Faculty) and academic director of the Imperial Enterprise Lab. He curates the Entrepreneurial Journey, Imperial's experiential start-up programme across all of its MBA programmes.

In his research, Markus focuses on several areas. First, he studies science-based organizations and science-based entrepreneurship. He has a particular interest in the interface between the world of academic science and industry, and special hybrid organizations that can bridge both worlds. Second, he is interested in social valuation, i.e. how individuals, firms and products are evaluated by others and how this process is affected by biases and pre-conceptio

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Held in the slightly impenetrable, certainly secure Sir Michael Uren building, with just under 100 in attendance, we had a good mix of founders from the White City ecosystem and beyond, a handful of corporates and also university professors and students trying to get a taste for what’s to come, if they embark on a career as entrepreneurs.

Brilliantly chaired by John Anderson, Imperial’s Chief Investment Officer, this first one had a deliberately wide panel that spans the width of deep tech. Future investor panels will be focussed on specific verticals e.g. biotech, cleantech.  

Big thank you to our panel for their contributions and for sticking around till the end to speak to the long line of attendees:

• Manjari Chandran-Ramesh (Partner, Amadeus Capital)
  
  
• Jonny Clifford (Partner, Entrepreneur First)
  
  
• Adrian Dan (Acting Chief Commercial Officer, NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic – DIANA)
  
  
• Amy Nommeots-Nomm PhD (Early-stage deep tech investor, Octopus Ventures)
  
  

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