#StartedinOxford Showcase 2025: Event Highlights!

Blackwell Hall and the Weston Library buzzed with innovation and excitement as we welcomed 15 of the newest startups in and around Oxford and 250 attendees to this year's #StartedinOxford Showcase - an event that truly celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit found within Oxford.

Startups across a diverse range of sectors pitched in a freshers’ fair-style setup, hoping to win 'investment' awarded by audience members in the form of #StartedinOxford pounds. Their ideas included innovations such as machine learning applied to drug discovery, an AI-powered peer support network for people with rare diseases, and a ground-breaking nanotechnology solution for sorting plastic waste. 

We were also delighted to be joined by many experts in entrepreneurship and innovation from the University and Oxfordshire in our partner zone. Exhibitors included Oxford University Innovation, Oxford Science Enterprises, Oxford Edge, Oxford Science Park, Oxford North, The BioEscalator, The Agile Lab at Begbroke, community organisations such as the Business and Intellectual Property Centre, and Oxford Trust and the Oxford Brookes Enterprise Support Team. For a full list of participating startups and exhibitors along with links to their websites, please click the image to view our brochure.

A welcome from the Vice-Chancellor

We were honoured to be joined by Professor Irene Tracey, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, who delivered an inspiring keynote on the pivotal role entrepreneurship plays in translating research into real-world impact. She highlighted how EnSpire and the Oxford entrepreneurial ecosystem are empowering Oxford’s students, researchers, and alumni to turn bold ideas into tangible ventures - fuelling innovation not just in Oxfordshire, but across the UK and globally. Also noting Oxford’s vital contribution to the Oxford-Cambridge-London arc, positioning it as one of the most dynamic and collaborative innovation ecosystems in the world.

It was also fantastic to have the University's Director of Innovation and Engagement, Dr Olga Kozlova in attendance, who chaired our Founder Fireside Chat while the 'investments' were being counted. Huge thanks go to our two panellists, Wenmiao Yu, Co-Founder and Director of Business Development at Quantum Dice, an award-winning venture-backed spinout from the University of Oxford’s world-renowned quantum optics laboratory, and Nick Greenhalgh, Co-founder of Luca Health, a company that are leveraging cutting edge technology to bring concussion diagnosis and management into the 21st century. 

And the winners are...

All 15 startups gave fantastic pitches and won 'investment' from the audience. However, the startup with the most investments and two runners up were announced as (drumroll):

SMRTmeds

CardioCare

SharedGenes

• 1st place - SMRTmeds: A startup that is developing AI-powered tools to predict immune durability after vaccination, using biomarkers to personalise booster schedules. Congratulations to co-founders Nicholas Raptakis, MSc Pharmacology and Carlos Valverde, MSc Immunology who are the recipients of six month's membership at Grassroots Workspace and £1000.
• Runners up - CardioCare: A biotech start-up developing at-home cardiovascular risk screening kits, co-founded by Hanyu Wang and Charles Li, Nuffield Department of Population Health Dphil students, and SharedGenes: The first AI-powered social network connecting individuals with rare and chronic diseases for personalised support, founded by Marshall Gould, MSc Genomic Medicine. Both startups were the recipients of £1000 and books on entrepreneurship given by Oxford University Innovation.

All winners have also been given a guaranteed place on the Oxford University Innovation Director's Course, commencing in Michaelmas Term 2025. 

The team at EnSpire extend a huge thank you to everyone who attended and made the event such a great success. We hope you all left inspired and eager to learn more about the entrepreneurial ecosystem here in Oxford.

Follow in their footsteps

Want to join in the fun next year? Do you have a business idea that you think could win the #StartedinOxford Showcase 2026? We can help you get there! Click the button below to get started on your very own entrepreneurial journey today.

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