Ötzi wins Postdoc Venture Creation Challenge with ClimateTech gamechanger
Otzi is a unique venture that has built the first physics-informed AI for predicting climate catastrophes. It won for creating a model that is more accurate, cheaper to produce and quicker to run than anything else on the market.
The company was also able to demonstrate that the insurance market it is targeting is in desperate need of a product like this that will save them money, bring down premiums and help countries most impacted by climate change to have more accurate modelling. Omer is a postdoc in the University of Cambridge Department of Computer Science.
At the Grand Finale, four standout postdoc-led ventures were crowned winners of a competition whose alumni have already raised over £172 million.
Second place went to Dielectrix, pitched by Maheera Abdul Ghani, who was awarded the £10,000 prize by Cambridge Innovation Capital. Dielectrix, selected by the judges for its IP protected technology and high market potential, is building the future of semiconductor hardware through smaller, more energy efficient and rapid transistors. Maheera is a postdoc in the department of Materials Science and Metallurgy.
The social venture track was won by GreenMixes, pitched by Dushanth Seevaratnam, who also secured a £20,000 investment prize from Cambridge Enterprise Ventures.
GreenMixes is on a mission to build a carbon-negative future. It is developing a new biomass waste-derived additive to sequester carbon in the atmosphere to reduce environmental damage. Dushanth is a postdoc in the Institute of Manufacturing.
There was also an audience winner prize that went to Nina Rzechorzek, representing SomNyx who impressed the 100-plus attendees with her dynamic pitch. SomNyx is creating next-generation diagnostic equipment for sleep conditions, with potential for both clinical and at-home applications.
Christine Martin, one of the judges and Head of Ventures at Cambridge Enterprise, said: “The finalists did an amazing job of pitching and made our job as judges very hard. They were all so good!
“They really represent what the University of Cambridge excels at: cutting-edge, transformative research with the potential to improve lives. The Grand Finale was an exciting celebration of that, and I think everyone was inspired by seeing these postdocs step out of the lab and onto the stage, sharing ventures that could shape the future.”
The Postdoc Venture Creation Challenge (PVCC) is the University of Cambridge’s flagship competition designed to help postdocs take their first steps in transforming research into real-world ventures. Welcoming innovative ideas across DeepTech, life sciences, AI, software, and social impact, the PVCC has a track record of producing some of Cambridge’s most exciting startups.
Previous winners have gone on to raise over £172m in investment, with alumni including Xampla, Nu Quantum, 52 North, and Sparxell.
The Postdoc Venture Creation Challenge is delivered by IE Cambridge in partnership with Cambridge Enterprise Ventures, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Founders at the University of Cambridge, and the Postdoc Academy.
The Challenge was sponsored by Mishcon de Reya, HSBC Innovation Banking and BDO.