
Meet the SPARK 1.0 Cohort

SPARK is the newest pathway for University of Cambridge students, researchers and recent alumni to materialise their ideas into action. Created in partnership between King’s E-Lab and Founders at the University of Cambridge, our four-week residential incubator is designed to validate bold ideas, early-stage products and social ventures.
Bringing together participants from 17 departments – including Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology, Materials Science, Engineering, Psychology and the Judge Business School – SPARK 1.0 showcases the creativity and ambition of Cambridge innovators building 24 ventures with purpose and potential. Explore the teams moving at pace and developing solutions for a more sustainable, inclusive future.
Software / AI
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Aizen
Aizen is a credit data startup driving financial inclusion with AI-powered financial passports that enable fairer credit decisions using real-time income, rent and spending data.
Co-founders: Tiago Ladeia and Leandro Silva
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Atera Analytics
AshGold Africa reduces education inequality by expanding energy access. In Kenya, it deploys solar projects and digital tools to schools, creating green jobs and climate-resilient learning environments.
Co-founders: Sally Musonye, Laura Kasuni and Jockim Kamalha
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Cambridge Mobilytics
Cambridge Mobilytics turns EV charging data into actionable intelligence, building predictive AI models and real-time analytics to support smarter decisions across the e-mobility sector.
Co-founder: Eliott Fournet
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Dielectrix
Dielectrix develops advanced materials for next-gen semiconductors, enabling energy-efficient, scalable devices and supporting architectures like CFET to meet growing demand for AI and deep learning.
Co-founders: Dr Maheera Gupta, Dr Yan Wang, Prof. Manish Chhowalla and Dr Han Yan
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iFlame
iFlame accelerates product innovation with a multi-agent AI system that combines automated collaboration and human input to deliver data-driven, scalable and creative product strategies.
Co-founders: Boyin Yang, Prof. Per Ola Kristensson, Prof. John Dudley and Yijing Yin
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MENRVA
MENRVA is an AI SaaS platform streamlining art discovery for businesses, matching them with the exact artists and artworks through personalised recommendations and direct connection tools.
Co-founders: Natalya Doris and Tanvi Rao
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The Surpluss
The Surpluss is a B Corp climate tech platform helping businesses trade excess resources, reducing waste and unlocking circular value across global supply chains.
Founder: Rana Hajirasouli
Bio / Life Sciences
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Dulce Cerebrum
Dulce Cerebrum is pioneering glycosylation analysis – cracking the “sugar code” – to detect early psychosis through powerful AI models and simple blood tests for personalised mental health diagnostics.
Co-founders: Ines Horvat-Menih, Taryn Adams and Chaitanya Dingare
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Egg Advisor
Egg Advisor is a digital platform guiding women through the egg freezing journey with evidence-based insights, personalised tools and one-to-one support for informed fertility choices.
Co-founders: Alexandra Draycott and Dr. Valerie Shaikly
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Heartly
Heartly helps individuals prevent cardiovascular disease through personalised education, data-driven insights and coaching – bridging the gap between public resources and private care with accessible, expert-led support.
Founder: Dr. Mayank Dalakoti
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Human Experience Dynamics (HED)
HED is redefining how patient experience is measured in personalised health tech. Temporal Experience Tracing™ captures real-time changes in how patients feel, offering insights into treatment impact and enabling responsive, human-centred care.
Co-founders: Dr. Barbara Jachs and Prof. Tristan Bekinschtein
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IntolerSense
Healthtech startup IntolerSense uses AI-enhanced food logging and symptom tracking to uncover hidden intolerances, giving users and clinicians faster, more accurate insights into dietary triggers.
Co-founders: Lukas Pin and Christopher Reiners
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Med Arcade
Med Arcade simplifies clinical data with a user-first agentic AI platform that streamlines patient records, reduces cognitive load and frees up time for better care.
Co-founders: Dr. Bernard Cho and Raphael Labaca-Castro
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Polytecks
Polytecks is developing a novel method for measuring body surface potentials using wearable e-textiles to improve heart disease detection – starting with early screening for valvular disease in dogs.
Co-founders: Ruben Ruiz Serrano and Undine-Sophie Deumer
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SafeTide
SafeTide is developing low-cost stabilisation technology that keeps delicate medicines like insulin stable at room temperature, reducing waste and improving access to life-saving treatments.
Co-founder: Xiaoyi Chen
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Yacson Therapeutics
Yacson Therapeutics analyses plant-based therapeutics to personalise IBD care, using organoid models and epigenetic biomarkers to guide treatment selection and reduce reliance on animal testing in drug discovery.
Co-founders: Seokjun Lee, Jaesub Park and Hyun Lee
Sustainability
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AshGold Africa
AshGold Africa reduces education inequality by expanding energy access. In Kenya, it deploys solar projects and digital tools to schools, creating green jobs and climate-resilient learning environments.
Co-founders: Sally Musonye, Laura Kasuni and Jockim Kamalha
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GreenHarvest
GreenHarvest is tackling the food sustainability crisis by using climate modelling, soil analysis and satellite data to predict crop potential and guide resilient agricultural planning.
Co-founders:Tara Murphy and Dylan Cuskelly
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Myta Bio
Myta Bio creates biomimetic industrial chemicals from natural ingredients, starting with Myty™ – a mussel-inspired adhesive offering a safer, sustainable alternative to petrochemical-based glues.
Co-founders: Callan MacDonald and Penny Dray
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Neela Biotech
Neela Biotech produces carbon-negative jet fuel using microbial upcycling and biogas infrastructure, offering a scalable, low-cost path to decarbonise aviation through sustainable fuel innovation.
Co-founders: Dr. Deepanshu Singh and Friederike Nintzel
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RetroAnalytica
RetroAnalytica uses AI and climate modelling to predict heat loss, assess retrofit potential and optimise energy efficiency across buildings and property portfolios for decarbonisation.
Co-founders: Maoran Sun, Prof. Ronita Bardhan and Grace Colverd
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Zenithon AI
Zenithon AI accelerates fusion research with machine learning tools that reduce plasma simulation times from months to seconds – enabling faster, smarter design across energy and engineering sectors.
Co-founder: Alex Higginbottom
Stealth
Two SPARK 1.0 ventures are currently operating in stealth mode, exploring new approaches to financing climate innovation as well as endomitriosis diagnostics.
