Biofonic’s novel acoustic tech wins top prize at Undaunted’s Greenhouse Demo Day

Biofonic is a climate startup developing tech that unearths rich insights into soil, to make agriculture more profitable and sustainable.

Soil – the Earth’s most biodiverse and least understood ecosystem – is critical for global food systems, but its health is under threat from industrial agricultural methods, which are heavily reliant on chemicals and pesticides. Biofonic’s tech, designed with farmers and currently being testing across the UK, uses acoustic sensors and machine learning to gather rich soil data, providing a low-cost and sustainable approach to crop management.

"We know more about the surface of Mars than we do about the soil under our feet, even though it’s vital to life on Earth", says its Founder, Alex Park. "A paradigm shift in the way we farm is needed to ensure we don’t continue to decimate soil biomes and diminish our ability to grow healthy crops."

"Instead of blanket-spraying chemicals across an entire field blindly, Biofonics sensors can hear hidden soil pests before their damage is visible to the human eye, cutting chemical costs, and significantly reducing crop loss and stress", she continues.

Prizes for soil, sequins and onion skins

The Greenhouse is special in that it caters to ClimateTech startups specifically, acknowledging the nuances and complexity of balancing business, innovation and impact... I'd strongly encourage any early-stage climate founders to apply for Cohort 9 - your business, perspective as a founder, and confidence will be better for it! Renuka Ramanujam Founder of HUID

Alex was awarded first prize at Undaunted’s recent Demo Day, when she took to the historic stage at The Royal Institution to pitch to Imperial’s climate innovation community alongside the 13 other early-stage startups from The Greenhouse accelerator’s seventh cohort. 

Working across different industries and sectors, these startups, spinouts and innovators are developing solutions to help us adapt to, and mitigate, the effects of climate change. Demo Day is the culmination of their time on The Greenhouse, an opportunity to pour what they’ve learnt over the past 12 months into impressive pitches to investors and climate innovation experts. 

"The Greenhouse could not have come at a better time for us as an early-stage company," says Alex. "It was instrumental in clarifying our go-to-market approach and refining our business case and financial model, as well as all the practical know-how in setting up and running a viable business. As we are approaching preparation for our first pre-seed fundraise, the programme has positioned us for success, and I feel infinitely more confident, both in terms of our practical readiness but also psychologically."

Sequinova, a startup developing plant-based, biodegradable sequins and glitter, took home the second prize. "We’re putting the shine back into sparkle," says Co-Founder Clare Lichfield. "Made from cellulose, our sequin materials are plastic-free, metal-free, mineral-free and non-toxic, leaving no residue as they return to nature at the end of their product lifecycle." Sequinova unveiled its product to the fashion world during McCartney’s Autumn/Winter 2025 runway show at Paris Fashion Week in March, and was also one of the top 20 shortlisted finalists at this year’s H&M Global Challenge Awards. 

"[The Greenhouse] was instrumental in clarifying our go-to-market approach and refining our business case and financial model... As we are approaching preparation for our first pre-seed fundraise, the programme has positioned us for success, and I feel infinitely more confident." Alex Parks Founder of Biofonic

Demo Day’s third prize went to HUID, a biotech startup that’s converting onion skins into food-preserving, compostable packaging materials. "Our first products are light-weight – reducing transportation costs, emissions and weight-based packaging taxes," says its Founder, Renuka Ramanujam, "and we’re now really excited to be developing antibacterial films and coatings that can extend shelf-life of fresh produce for up to three days longer than standard plastic films."

"The Greenhouse has been invaluable in so many ways," says Renuka. "It provided in-depth sessions around everything a climate tech start up would need to know - from your basic director's essentials, to ensuring your customer conversations are actually valuable; from regulatory impact to financial modelling. Being in The Greenhouse network means you are the heart of climate innovation, whether that's access to office space, facilities or events in the Imperial ecosystem".

"The non-dilutive funding was also a game-changer," she continues. "It allowed us to test and implement the lessons we were learning through the programme in real time, giving us breathing space to work on the business. The mentors are varied in their knowledge, which again provides an incredible support system, and the programme is special in that it caters to climate tech start ups specifically, acknowledging the nuances and complexity of balancing business, innovation and impact. The support and bond you build with other cohort members is really special. I'd strongly encourage any early-stage climate founders to apply for Cohort 9 - your business, perspective as a founder, and confidence will be better for it!"

The programme is funded by HSBC UK, the Inflexion Foundation, the UK Centre for Greening and Finance and Investment (CGFI), and CO₂RE, the Greenhouse Gas Removal Hub.

"Events like Demo Day remind us that meaningful innovation starts with real-world solutions—practical, science-led, and built to scale,” says Natalie Gregoire-Skeete, Head of Societal Purpose and Sustainability at HSBC UK. “Startups like Biofonic, Sequinova and HUID are tackling urgent environmental challenges in bold and creative ways, from restoring soil health to reinventing materials. As a long-standing partner of The Greenhouse, HSBC is proud to support their journey—thank you to this year’s winners for showing what innovation looks like in action. We look forward to backing even more pioneering founders in the cohorts to come."

Graduating from Undaunted is just the beginning

Successful Greenhouse graduates become Undaunted alumni. Now numbering more than 180 startups, Undaunted’s alumni have gone on to raise upwards of $1.3 billion in investment, operating across 30 countries and creating over 2,000 jobs. These companies include:

• Deep.Meta shortlisted for the next £1 million Manchester Prize for its digital twin designed to reduce carbon emissions from steel-making - an example of AI for the public good
• PulpaTronics, whose founders were recently included in Forbes 30 Under 30, and last year raised £430,000 investment to begin testing its low-cost, recyclable radio-frequency ID tags with retailers
• Breathe Battery Technologies, which landed $21m Series B in May 2025 to predict battery performance
• Carbon Cell, which raised £1.2m in May 2025 to scale its low carbon foam material 
• Origen, which secured $13m in January 2025 to deploy limestone-based direct air capture technology 
• Notpla, which secured £20m investment in 2024 to bring its seaweed-based packaging to the US market 
• Puraffinity, which raised £17m investment in 2024 to scale up water treatment technology

Apply for The Greenhouse Cohort 9

Applications for Cohort 9 of The Greenhouse are open now! We’re looking for ambitious early-stage founders ready to build, test and scale their solutions with expert support, a £20k equity-free grant, access to Imperial’s world-class facilities and a community of the UK’s leading green innovators.

"The breadth of education and support, access to opportunities, and the community of incredible founders at a similar stage as us has made all the difference," says Demo Day pitch winner, Alex, from Biofonics. "As a solo first-time founder, I don't know where I'd be without it! As an alumni of the programme, I now have a network of incredible experts and founders I can tap into instantaneously, the benefits of which will continue on far beyond the programme. I cannot recommend The Greenhouse enough!"

So, if you're a next generation climate innovator:

• Come and meet The Greenhouse team at one of our informal Q&A webinars to learn more about programme and ask your questions
• Apply for Cohort 9 via the form on our website before the deadline on 31 August 2025
• Help us to spread the word with the pre-seed climate startups in your networks!

Support our startups

Are you an investor or innovation supporter with expertise that could help our founders thrive? If you’d like an introduction to one or more of our Cohort 7 startups, please contact us via this investor form.

Watch Cohort 7's pitches again

A huge well done to Cohort 7 for a fantastic Demo Day. You can watch each team pitch again here.

About Undaunted

Undaunted is a hub for the UK’s climate innovation community, creating new routes into green entrepreneurship and supporting the acceleration of startups and SMEs tackling climate change. It is a partnership between the The Royal Institution and the Grantham Institute - Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London. 

The Greenhouse programme is supported by HSBC UK and the Inflexion Foundation. It is working in partnership with the Mayor of London. 

FiData and Biofonic were sponsored on The Greenhouse by the UK Centre for Greening and Finance and Investment (CGFI): a national centre established to accelerate the adoption and use of climate and environmental data and analytics by financial institutions internationally.

Capchar, Medusa Materials, and Ventrix Labs were sponsored on The Greenhouse by CO₂RE, the UK’s national research hub on Greenhouse Gas Removal (GGR). CO₂RE conducts research on GGR, co-ordinates demonstration projects around the UK, connects to other national and international programmes and commissions grants through a flexible fund.