Finalists chosen for Imperial’s flagship competition for new startups

Five of the most promising new startups from Imperial’s innovation ecosystem will pitch their businesses in the final of the university’s flagship entrepreneurial competition next month.

The Venture Catalyst Challenge (VCC) is a competition for Imperial students, alumni and early career researchers who have founded startups, providing an opportunity for them to develop their ideas for commercialisation and win a share of a £100,000 prize.

"[The finalists] have shown real ambition, resilience and a willingness to test and develop their ideas into ventures with the potential to make a meaningful impact." Ben Mumby-Croft Director of Entrepreneurship at Imperial

With previous participants including seaweed-packaging company Notpla and battery engineering company Breathe Battery, the competition has been a launchpad for some of Imperial’s most successful businesses.

VCC selects 25 teams each year for a three-month programme which includes 1-2-1 coaching, meetings with experts, workshops and pitch training.

Five finalists are chosen from these teams to compete in the Grand Final for a top prize of £20,000, with smaller prizes available for category winners and teams which are pushing the boundaries of innovation and positive societal impact.

Ben Mumby-Croft, Director of Entrepreneurship at Imperial, said: “It’s fantastic to see how far this year’s Venture Catalyst Challenge finalists have come over the course of the three-month programme. They’ve shown real ambition, resilience and a willingness to test and develop their ideas into ventures with the potential to make a meaningful impact.

“VCC is Imperial’s flagship entrepreneurship competition, with the biggest prize fund of any UK University, and it’s a brilliant opportunity to recognise and support the next generation of entrepreneurs. I’m incredibly excited to see the finalists take to the stage at the Grand Final, showcase how far they’ve come, and pitch their ventures.”

• You can attend the Venture Catalyst Challenge 2026 Grand Final at Imperial’s South Kensington Campus on Wednesday 4 November. Get a free ticket to the event here.

The finalists are split into five categories: AI & Robotics, Creative & Consumer, Digital & Finance, Energy & Environment, and Health & Wellbeing.

This year’s finalists are:

AI & Robotics: Veren Surgical

Veren Surgical, co-founded by Research Associate Daniel Bautista Salinas, is developing a robotic system for cochlear implants. The startup says these implants require threading an electrode array into the cochlea – a process which risks damaging the delicate structures inside.

Their solution, the Miles Insertion System, aims to control every stage of the insertion mechanically, with real-time impedance sensing to report what is happening inside the cochlea. Veren Surgical says that this technology can reduce trauma to non-significant levels, allowing patients to keep the hearing they have.

Daniel Bautista Salinas, co-founder of the Imperial startup Veren Surgical.

Creative and Consumer: Byte

Brain injuries in contact sports are difficult to detect and manage objectively, according to the startup Byte, meaning cumulative sub-concussive impacts can go unnoticed and athletes are at risk of returning to action too quickly.

Byte, co-founded by Innovation Design Engineering graduate Georgios Koukoulis, is developing a smart mouthguard to measure head impacts using embedded sensors and its own software. By combining impact data with cognitive assessments, the startup aims to provide personalised insights into brain load, injury risk and recovery - enabling safer return-to-play decisions and reducing the risk of long-term neurological damage.

Georgios Koukoulis, co-founder of the Imperial startup Byte.

Digital and Finance: GenScan AI

GenScan AI is a startup building an AI software which they say can make MRI scans 90 per cent faster, cutting a 20-minute scan to as little as 2 minutes. Founded by AI and Machine Learning graduate Mary-Brenda Akoda, the startup aims to unlock increased scanning capacity for hospitals, reduce backlogs, repeat scans and sedation, and get patients to diagnosis sooner – all while using current scanners.

Conventional MRIs can take 20 to 90 minutes to complete, creating a bottleneck which leads to long waiting lists and delayed diagnoses for health conditions such as stroke and cancer. GenScan AI believes its software can help hospitals to scan up to 10 times more patients per day.

Mary-Brenda Akoda, founder of the Imperial startup GenScan AI.

Energy and Environment: Ryza Bio

Ryza Bio, founded by Research Associate Selin Olenik, is developing a discovery platform for novel herbicides to protect plants from weeds. The startup says that herbicide products used to protect food crops are failing fast, but agrochemical companies are held back from bringing new products to market due to slow testing processes.

Their solution is a discovery platform that acts as a miniature greenhouse in the lab, using low-cost sensors to capture the chemical warning signs that plants immediately release when they are under attack. These signals are used to show how the plant is responding to each herbicide within hours of application – instead of waiting days for visual symptoms to appear.

Selin Olenik, founder of the Imperial spinout Ryza Bio.

Health and Wellbeing: Synaptive

Synaptive is developing an EEG electrode for recording the brain’s electrical activity that is designed to work across all hair types. Traditional EEG sensors which were designed for straight or fine hair struggle to reach the scalp for curly and afro-textured hair, leading to failed or repeated recordings and missed diagnostic information.

The startup, co-founded by PhD student Peter Bryan, says its patent-pending design solves this problem by working with the natural shape of different hair types to reach the scalp. They believe the technology could help people with textured hair get better diagnosis data and be more easily included in research studies.

Peter Bryan, co-founder of the Imperial startup Synaptive.

Read more about the Venture Catalyst Challenge on the Imperial Enterprise Lab website.