12 women entrepreneurs from London win national award to make the world a better place

TWELVE WOMEN TRAILBLAZERS FROM LONDON WIN NATIONAL AWARD
AND £50,000 EACH IN GOVERNMENT FUNDING

50 of the UK’s leading women entrepreneurs backed by Innovate UK for game-changing ideas

From 3D-AI technology allowing heart surgeons to simulate surgeries and an app that curbs your cravings to cultivating micro-biomes to supplement bottle-fed milk and removing lead from lead-batteries to reduce pollution, Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation Awards will empower twelve pioneering women from London to scale their innovative businesses.

These twelve women entrepreneurs are amongst this year’s 50 winners of Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation Awards who are developing novel solutions to major social, environmental and economic challenges. Each winner will benefit from a £50,000 grant, one-to-one business coaching, and a suite of networking, role modelling, and training opportunities.

Coinciding with International Women’s Day (Wednesday 8 March), the Awards reflect the government’s ambition to give more support to women innovators and business leaders.

The range of innovations from across the UK are vast, from health tech to education and from protecting lives to new ways to play music. The entrepreneurs from London are recognised today on International Women’s Day which is encouraging people to “embrace equity”. They are:

Katerina Spranger, from London, who founded Oxford Heartbeat after suffering a personal tragedy and finding that 1 in 4 stent surgeries are unsuccessful due to the incorrect model, size and position of the stent. She has now built a powerful, 3D AI-led software system, PreSize™ Neurovascular, that allows surgeons to simulate surgeries ahead of time and accurately determine the correct stents needed – making surgeries more predictable, safe and efficient.
Divia Bhatnagar, from London, Co-founder of Medical Intelligence Group, who has developed a 3D foot scanner to prevent and monitor life threatening diabetic foot ulcers from the comfort of a patient’s home. They can scan their foot and send the 3D image to a remote team of clinicians for evaluation and early intervention, reducing the number of amputations and lives lost to diabetic ulcers.
Jo Barrow, from London, who has Co-founded Curb, a game-changing AI-led digital platform that helps curb your cravings. 90% of Britons have at least one habit that is harmful to their health. Curb recognises the patterns of behaviour that might lead to lapse and interrupts them with a ‘just-in-time adaptive intervention’, supporting people through moments of craving.
Lydia Mapstone, from London, Founder and CEO of BoobyBiome, who is developing a breast milk-derived microbiome supplement to help bottle-fed infants to help regulate their digestive, immune and metabolic functions. Babies without access to breast milk are more vulnerable to microbiome-related diseases such as necrotising enterocolitis, diabetes, IBS and obesity.
Dian-Jen Lin, from London, who has co-founded Post Carbon Lab, cultivates micro-organisms to bio-manufacture pigments, colours, finishes and agents used in the fashion and textile industry from her own vertical farm – to make fashion more sustainable.
A.K. Ola Hekselman, from London, Co-founder of Solveteq, who has developed a process for recovering lead from used lead-acid batteries, significantly reducing emissions of lead to the environment, and exposure to workers and local communities to lead pollution.
Claire Trant, from London, Co-founder & CEO of Untap, who has developed a device that detects viral infection rates within communities without the need for lateral flow testing. The device uses PCR technology to test wastewater for viruses like COVID-19, influenza and Norovirus and can be used anywhere from schools to hospitals and workplaces for early detection.
Beth Kume-Holland, from London, who has created Patchwork Hub, a unique, employment platform and recruitment consultancy spotlighting and connecting the hidden talent pool of skilled professionals who are disabled, carers, parents or retirees to employers.
Louise Ben-Nathan, from London, who has founded LBN Innovations and is developing a new, more comfortable device to replace the speculum for cervical screening to detect mutations which could turn into cervical cancer. Louise’s innovation will address the challenge of 1 in 4 women not attending screening invitations because they find it painful or embarrassing, preventing early detection and treatment.
Sara Berkai, from London, Co-founder of Ambessa Play, who designs DIY STEM educational kits that children can assemble and use every day, to help fuel their imagination and empower the inventors and makers of tomorrow.
Natalie Kerres, from London, who took her inspiration from animals and the way their scales offer them flexible protection, to create her own human-versions by founding SCALES, used as flexible body armour by professional athletes, and in medical orthotics and occupational health areas.
Emma Lawton, from London, Co-founder of MoreHuman, has developed an events management platform that uses machine learning to help bring people together in inclusive community events, groups and clubs, as part of Emma’s mission to address “the loneliness epidemic”.

The flagship Women in Innovation Awards is a key part of Innovate UK’s commitment to boosting the number of women entrepreneurs. Innovate UK will give all 50 trailblazers £50,000 and bespoke mentoring and coaching to enable them to scale-up their businesses.

Now in its sixth year, the competition drew a record number of 920 applications from women business leaders, 10% up from last year, reflecting the growing number of women-led businesses in the UK (according to the Rose Review Progress Report 2023, 20% of all UK businesses are now led by all-women teams).

Innovate UK’s Women in Innovation programme continues to support high-potential women business leaders from diverse backgrounds. With a passion to support underrepresented innovation talent, 22% of the winners are Black, Asian, or from another ethnic minority group and 12% have identified as disabled.

Commenting on her innovation and Award, Louise Ben-Bethan of LBN Innovations said, “In the mid 1990s women accepting cervical screening invitations was as high as 83% as opposed to the current rate of 69%. My innovation hopes to change this and take us back to those levels. Rather than continually demand women are subject to a medical device invented in 1845, I felt we needed to evolve the process. I feel incredibly honoured that Innovate UK have chosen me as a winner and hope to make the most of this opportunity. Hopefully in the future I can send the ladder back down and help other women coming along the path behind me.”

Emily Nott, Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Programmes at Innovate UK said, “Each year I am blown away by the brilliant ideas and talent we uncover through our Women in Innovation programme. Despite these challenging economic times, this year’s winners have shown great leadership, passion and resilience in driving their innovations forward. Innovate UK will work alongside them now to ensure they have the resources and support required to grow and scale their businesses, while encouraging a new generation of women to get involved in innovation, pursue their ambitions and transform our economy and society.”

Indro Mukerjee, CEO of Innovate UK, said, “The Innovate UK Women in Innovation programme is an important part of our many activities to make a real difference to the talent and skills pipeline for UK business innovation by inspiring, involving and investing in greater diversity. I warmly congratulate all the Women in Innovation Award winners and look forward to keeping in touch as they progress.”

Details on all 50 women innovators can be found here: https://iuk.ktn-uk.org/programme/women-in-innovation/women-in-innovation-winners/

If you’re an aspiring woman innovator, check out how Innovate UK could support you here: https://iuk.ktn-uk.org/programme/women-in-innovation/