Winners of Accelerate@Babraham competition announced

Five promising early-stage life science ventures are beginning the next steps of their entrepreneurial adventure at one of the most successful locations for life science start-ups in Europe, the Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge.

 Karolina Zapadka, Head of Accelerate@Babraham (seated front left), Allan Marchington, Managing Director, Head of Life Sciences at Intermediate Capital Group (far left, back row), Derek Jones, CEO, Babraham Research Campus Ltd (middle back row) and Andy Richards CBE, biotech entrepreneur and investor (far right, back row) with the 2021/22 Accelerate@Babraham cohort.

Now in its fourth year, Accelerate@Babraham, the bio-entrepreneurial incubator initiative established and developed by the Babraham Research Campus, has announced its 2021/22 winning cohort who begin their five-month journey with a week-long life sciences bootcamp.

The winning ventures will be able to explore and develop their science on Campus in the company of an unrivalled network of mentors, experts, and investors. Access to free lab space and £10,000 non-dilutive funding completes the package, which has this year been recognised as one of the top 25 biotech incubators in Europe. 

A total of eight finalists pitched to a distinguished judging panel, including Dr Jane Osbourn OBE, Chair Mogrify and CSO Alchemab Therapeutics Ltd, Anne Horgan, Cambridge Innovation Capital and prominent Cambridge entrepreneur and investor Dr Andy Richards. 

The five winning ventures are: 

  • Mosaic Therapeutics – a cancer drug discovery company from the Wellcome Genome Campus, disrupting the traditional way of treating cancers.

  • Neobe Therapeutics – a Deep Science Ventures company engineering biologics to overcome immunologically “cold” tumours. 

  • Creasallis – an antibody solutions company aiming to create a second generation of antibody-based medicines.

  • CamRegen – a University of Cambridge spinout specialising in the manufacture of collagen based medical devices.

  • Medusa Pharmaceuticals – an Imperial College London spinout combatting antimicrobial resistance.


Dr Karolina Zapadka, Head of Accelerate@Babraham, Babraham Research Campus, said: “Well done to all the finalists!  It was a highly competitive and rigorous selection process, culminating in a fast-paced pitch-final which determined which five companies made it through. These top five ventures succinctly and confidently communicated their idea, its potential impact, and longer-term ambitions. Today marks the start of their journey with us and we are very excited to be working with them.” 

Having supported 15 early-stage enterprises to date which have raised a total investment of £12.5m, the programme will nurture this next generation of life science innovators and help them navigate this tough and fast-moving sector while enabling tangible successes with their science. 

Accelerate@Babraham is supported by a core group of strategic partners: AstraZeneca, Eisai, LifeArc, Mundipharma and Kidney Research UK. Their support enables the delivery of this ground-breaking programme and their knowledge and connections open doors for start-ups that would not ordinarily be possible.

Accelerate@Babraham also benefits from a high level of support from organisations on Campus, within the Cambridge life science cluster and beyond, including: One Nucleus, Taylor Vinters, RxCelerate, Silicon Valley Bank, and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. These organisations offer - together with a cohort of companies and investors located on and off the Campus - their time and expertise to the start-up ventures and ensure the initiative is continually able to evolve to deliver the very best nurturing support, not only to the current cohort but also the alumni.

To find out more about Accelerate@Babraham, the current cohort and alumni please visit: www.accelerateatbabraham.com

Image:  Karolina Zapadka, Head of Accelerate@Babraham (seated front left), Allan Marchington, Managing Director, Head of Life Sciences at Intermediate Capital Group (far left, back row), Derek Jones, CEO, Babraham Research Campus Ltd (middle back row) and Andy Richards CBE, biotech entrepreneur and investor (far right, back row) with the 2021/22 Accelerate@Babraham cohort.



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