Start-up Festival

Davide Bommarito

Director, Life Sciences & Healthcare, Early Stage Banking, HSBC Innovation Banking

Davide heads the Life Sciences & Healthcare early-stage vertical at HSBC Innovation Banking in London. He joined HSBC Innovation Banking to expand the bank's healthcare footprint in the UK and to provide commercial banking services to disruptive Biotech, Biopharma and Tech Bio companies at different growth stages (pre-seed, seed & series A). Prior, Davide was a Vice President in the SVB UK Early-Stage Healthcare division. Davide is a former scientist with advanced degrees (Ph.D. in Immunology & M.Sc. in Medical Biotechnology) and experience in both the financial/banking sector and medical research sector including roles at world-leading research institutions such as King's College London (KCL) and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI)/Harvard.

 

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Danny Bosch

Angel Investor

Danny Bosch, Ph.D., MBA is an Investor-Operator and the Founder of DGB Strategy, where he provides strategic commercial and fundraising advisory to Seed and Series A ventures. Specialising in venture architecture, Danny helps founders translate complex scientific innovation into scalable, bankable commercial reality for institutional investors.

He is deeply embedded in the UK health and venture ecosystem as a Health Executive in Residence at UCL, a venture-backed advisor, and a mentor for several top-tier accelerators. Danny brings deep institutional insight to his advisory work from his ongoing role as Director of Business Development at Maudsley Enterprise (SLaM NHS FT), as well as his past leadership in architecting data-monetisation models for the London Secure Data Environment (SDE). By combining his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences with an Executive MBA, Danny bridges the gap between rigorous clinical evidence and private-sector capital strategy.

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Filippo Dal Ben

Investment Manager, Pioneer Group

Filippo is Investment Manager at The Pioneer Group, the largest investor and operator of life sciences campuses across the UK and Ireland. In this role, he leads the sourcing and due diligence of innovative companies in drug discovery, medical devices, diagnostics, digital health, and therapeutic platforms. To date, he has successfully facilitated over £6.8m in fundraising across MedTech and Advanced Therapies. 

Previously, he was a founding team member at a start-up focused on diagnostics for blood cancers and infectious diseases and served as a strategic consultant to pharmaceutical companies in the mRNA vaccine sector during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

 

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Inga Deakin

Partner, Molten VC

Inga brings hands-on investment experience in life sciences and digital health, working with ventures spun out of leading UK universities. Her career has also included time in the US, where she gained international industry and healthcare expertise as Chief of Staff at a commercial-stage genetic molecular diagnostics company, and as Entrepreneur in Residence at Duke University. 

Her scientific foundation includes a DPhil and MSc in Neuroscience from the University of Oxford, complemented by a BA from the University of Cambridge. This blend of academic rigor and industry insight fuels her enthusiasm for supporting innovators who are advancing the future of healthcare.

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Sally Epstein

Entrepreneur in Residence, Cambridge Innovation Capital

Sally is an AI and science strategist.

Before joining CIC, Sally served as Chief Innovation Officer at Cambridge Consultants, where she led the deep tech incubator and guided investments in quantum technologies, human–machine understanding, and photonics. She also served as a subject matter expert at Darktrace.

Sally holds a PhD from King’s College London and a BA in Mathematics from the University of Oxford.

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Tori Hammond

Senior Research Commercialisation Manager (lead for Health and Life Sciences), University of Bristol

Tori is the lead for health and life science commercialisation, supporting Bristol academics with the exploitation of intellectual property through licensing and the formation of spin-out companies. Tori joined the University of Bristol in June 2024 after a decade working in technology transfer at Imperial College London, University of Exeter and Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust. Before this, Tori worked in drug discovery R&D at GlaxoSmithKline and holds a PhD in biochemistry and a degree in molecular biology from the University of Bath.

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Julian Hanak

Entrepreneur in Residence, University of Bristol

Julian has held leadership roles in the biotechnology and gene therapy sector for more than 30 years, working in both small biotech, CDMO and large pharma companies. Most recently he was CEO of Purespring Therapeutics, seeing the company through its $100M+ Series B raise. He has also held senior positions at Nightstar Therapeutics, Cobra Biomanufacturing, Biogen and AstraZeneca.

With special interests in early stage company and product development Julian is currently Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Bristol.

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Nataly Hastings

CEO, Cellestial Health

Dr Nat Hastings has background in clinical research and bioengineering at the University of Cambridge, focussing on Parkinson's disease modification and brain cell network communication. She led the relevant academic project since 2018 and managed the Cellestial Health spin-out process in 2023. As the CEO of Cellestial Health, her goal is to transform academic insights into a tangible patient benefit. 

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Julia Hawkins

General Partner, LocalGlobe

No bio provided

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Anthony Holmes

Director of Science and Technology, NC3Rs

Dr Anthony Holmes is Director of Science and Technology at the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs; www.nc3rs.org.uk). He has strategic oversight of the science and technology supported through NC3Rs; ensuring that the NC3Rs has a long-term and sustainable strategy for supporting the best science and technology and its use in practice to achieve 3Rs and wider scientific and economic benefits. He leads the CRACK IT open innovation programme. Anthony has a PhD from the University of Cambridge and worked as a post-doctoral researcher at the Babraham Institute, Cambridge exploring the molecular mechanisms behind calcium signalling pathways and their role in human health and disease.

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Jonathan Kwok

Co-Founder & CEO, Infinitopes

Dr. Kwok is a clinician scientist and Cancer Research UK (CRUK) cancer vaccines fellow at Oxford University. He enjoys more than two decades of professional experience across the fields of oncology, vaccinology, clinical trials, strategy consulting and investment banking. He co-founded Infinitopes Precision Immunomics in 2021, bringing together world leading experts in antigen discovery, T-cell immunology, computation/ML, vaccine design/molecular biology, biomanufacturing and medicines regulation. His mission is to develop accessible, high efficiency vaccines to prevent cancer metastases.

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Oliver Lyth

Associate, M Ventures

Oliver Lyth, PhD, is an Associate in the M Ventures Biotechnology team having joined in 2024. Oliver holds an MBiochem from the University of Oxford and completed his PhD in Molecular Parasitology at Imperial College where his research centred on how the malaria parasite infects red blood cells. Previously, Oliver acted as an Analyst in the due diligence team supporting LifeArc Ventures before joining IP Group’s Life Sciences Partnership as an Investment Manager where he led deal flow and diligence activities for the review of Biotech investment opportunities with a focus on therapeutics. Oliver is based in London and Amsterdam.

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Lydia Mapstone

Co-Founder & CEO, BoobyBiome

Lydia is the CEO and Co-founder of BoobyBiome, a company leveraging their expertise in breast milk research to provide solutions for improving infant gut health. As a microbiologist, Lydia is passionate about solving problems in healthcare by using biotechnology. Lydia has pursued this interest throughout her career; winning the Best Therapeutic prize at the international synthetic biology competition iGEM (2017), through her PhD research at University College London where she has published, presented and won multiple awards for her research (2017-2022) and by winning the UCL Grand Challenges award to set up the first UK infant microbiome conference at the Institute of Child Health, Great Ormond Street Hospital (2020).

During her time at BoobyBiome, Lydia was an awardee of Innovate UK’s prestigious Women in Innovation 2023 prize and has led her team to win five other awards from the BBBSRC and Innovate UK. Keen to share her expertise, Lydia became a member of the Women in Innovation Community Forum (2025-2026) to advise the UK government on funding female entrepreneurship and is a frequent guest lecturer on university courses run by Birkbeck University, UCL and Imperial.

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Abigail Martin

Co-Founder & CCO, ImmuONE

Dr Abigail Martin is a scientist turned entrepreneur in biotech, with a passion for applying research to the commercial world. She cofounded university spin out ImmuONE in 2019 with the aim to engage with inhalation and allergy industries, advocating for standardised in vitro technologies. With early on support from Innovate UK followed by recent seed investment of +£2M, she continues to lead the revenue making venture from start up to scale up. As CEO, she is passionate about supporting alternative methods to animal testing, empowering her colleagues and navigating ImmuONE on its growth trajectory. To date the company has launched multiple human-lung and immune in-vitro products, offering standard testing and advanced assays to assist clients in bringing products to market. 

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Jack O'Meara

CEO, Aerska

Jack O’Meara is the CEO of Aerska, a biotech company developing RNAi medicines to address neurodegenerative diseases. Prior to founding Aerska, Jack co-founded and served as CEO of Ochre Bio, which applies advances in data science and organ perfusion to develop RNAi medicines for patients suffering from liver diseases. Between both he has raised over $100M in top tier venture capital and closed pharma partnership deals worth up to $1B. He began his career in management consulting, where he supported the global launch of Zolgensma at Novartis Gene Therapies. Jack holds technical degrees from the University of Galway in Ireland and the University of Notre Dame in the United States. His work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and the Financial Times.

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Kerstin Papenfuss

CEO, Big Picture Bio

Dr. Kerstin Papenfuss is a proven leader in therapeutic venture creation, specializing in translating groundbreaking scientific ideas into successful companies. With a PhD in tumour immunology and an Executive MBA, her background perfectly anchors Big Picture Bio's focus on complex immune microenvironments. Her career spans impactful translational roles at LifeArc and the UK's Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, where she incubated companies like PureSpring. At Deep Science Ventures (DSV), Kerstin built the pharma sector from scratch—founding 12 therapeutics and enabling tech companies, and managing a portfolio of 18, including one exit. She has secured major industry collaborations, board directorships, and actively champions female entrepreneurship in deep tech. 

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Ed Rainsford

Senior Associate, Appleyard Lees

Edward advises both UK and US biotechnology and medical device companies on protecting valuable inventions.  

His sector expertise spans antibodies, cell and gene therapy, gene editing, stem cells, therapeutics, diagnostics, molecular biology and medical devices.  

For these technologies, Edward’s work includes patent drafting, patent prosecution, European Patent Office (EPO) opposition and appeals, proceedings at the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court (IPEC), freedom to operate reports, and registered designs.  

Edward completed his PhD in virology from Warwick University in 2006 studying rotavirus replication. After leaving Warwick University, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Virginia researching the rhabdovirus nucleocapsid protein. Edward returned to the UK in 2009 to study for his master’s in intellectual property law at Queen Mary University of London. Edward entered the patent profession in private practice in 2010. 

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Rosie Rodriguez

SVP Growth & Operations, Relation Therapeutics

Rosie Rodriguez is Relation’s SVP of Growth and Operations. Rosie brings over 18 years of successful Research and Development experience in Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences. She is a senior executive accomplished in Clinical Development, Alliance and Portfolio Management and Business Strategy. Rosie holds a PhD from The Institute of Cancer Research (CRUK). 

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Prashant Shah

Managing Partner, o2h Ventures

o2h Ventures was co-founded by Sunil and Prashant Shah in 2013. In the last 3-4 years, they have co-founded four companies with UK-based academics and entrepreneurs, provided consultancy services to five companies, held Chairman or Director level positions in nine companies, built up a portfolio of twenty early-stage investments, and executed early-stage drug discovery research projects for fifteen different companies. In 2013, bucking a pattern of UK Science going to the USA for funding, Sunil and Prashant acted quickly to lead an academic spin out from the USA with promising data in brain cancer and proceeded to run, externally fund and locate that company, Opal Oncology, in the UK. It provided direct hands-on experience of making the scientific decisions and managing the operations of a therapeutics company.

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Nandy Thaver

Founder & CEO, Thaver

Thaver is led by Nandy Thaver who has over 14 years experience driving revenue growth, leading high-performing teams, and delivering transformative results for global organisations.

Specialising in healthcare, life sciences, and technology, Nandy has a proven record of success in scaling operations, building strategic partnerships, and securing multi-million-dollar contracts across diverse markets.

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Stuart Thompson

Consultant, SJT Advisory

Stuart is an experienced board-level leadership consultant, and one of the first talent partners recruited into UK venture capital. At IP Group (2006-2024), he personally recruited many of the firm’s deep-science investment professionals, the Group’s plc board non-executives, and key appointments for a broad spectrum of innovative technology companies. These include Chairs for adsilico (In-silico Clinical Trials) and Microbiotica (Microbiome-based therapeutics); and Chief Executives for Oxehealth (Vital signs monitoring), Creavo (Medical Imaging) and Iksuda (ADC Therapeutics). 

Stuart began his career in executive search at Whitehead Mann (1991-2006), gaining a reputation for delivery on assignments, which led to him being chosen by the firm’s Managing Partner (Dr Anna Mann) to support her work, leading the Board Practice. Latterly, he ran the Life Sciences and Healthcare Practice as Partner in charge.

He has an undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from Birmingham University, and a Certificate in Professional Coaching from Henley Management College (Reading University

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Jonathan Tobin

Partner, Brandon Capital

Jonathan is a Partner based in Brandon’s London office and serves on the boards of Pheon Therapeutics, Myricx Bio, AstronautX, Salvina, Catalym, and Cincera. Previously, he was a Managing Director at Arix Bioscience, where he built the team and portfolio, sitting on boards including Artios Pharma and VelosBio (acquired by Merck for $2.75bn). Before Arix, Jonathan was a Principal at Touchstone Innovations, helping build biotech spin-outs like Inivata (acquired for $415m). 

Jonathan holds a first-class degree in Biology from Oxford University, a PhD in Molecular Medicine from UCL, and an MBA from Imperial College. He conducted postdoctoral research on cancer cell signalling at Cancer Research UK, publishing in Nature Genetics and NEJM. He is a trustee of the Autism Centre for Excellence, investor-in-residence at Cancer Research Horizons, and part of the KHAN drug discovery fund investment advisory committee. 

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Jeroen Verheyen

Co-Founder & CEO, Semarion

Jeroen drives the strategic deployment of Semarion’s cell assaying solutions across drug discovery through product commercialisation and partnering.

Previously, he developed cell model for neuro-inflammation and worked with drug-delivery systems, RNAi, and stem cell therapeutics.

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Jerry Wu

Managing Director & Head of UK Office, LongRiver

Jerry brings over 27 years of experience in healthcare, venture capital, and cross-border investments. Before joining LongRiver, he led over £250 million in investments as Head of Investment at TusPark Holdings UK, a Cambridge-based VC firm.

His extensive background includes leadership roles at AstraZeneca, where he drove AI and data-driven clinical research, as well as contributions to EMBL-EBI, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, and the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research.

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Chloe Zhang

Investor Relationships Manager, CPI

Chloe is Investor Relationships Manager of CPI Enterprises, based in London to expand the deep tech investor community, and to engage with academia and SMEs to explore potential investment and partnership opportunities.

Prior to joining CPI, Chloe has 9 years significant experience of the early-stage investment ecosystem. She was partner at China's first and largest Entrepreneurship educational platform and incubator before co-founding a US-China-based micro-VC and accelerator, which she later exited successfully. She then launched the UK entity of a family office and CVC, G5 Capital before joining CPI in 2022. Chloe started her career in media and consulting. She holds an MBA from Imperial College Business School and a MSc in Financial Journalism from City University London.

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