Eight Health Innovation Start-Ups Graduate from Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst’s 2025 Business Accelerator

Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst (SBC) marked the successful conclusion of its 2025 Catalyser Business Accelerator last Thursday with a celebratory event showcasing eight of the UK’s most promising early-stage health innovation start-ups.

Each team presented their refined commercialisation strategy to an invited audience of investors, founders, and industry experts. Following each pitch, audience members engaged in dynamic Q&A sessions, offering valuable feedback, fresh perspectives, and connections to support the next phase of growth for each venture.

Marco Delise, PhD, Director of Entrepreneurship at SBC, commented:
“It was great to see the 2025 cohort step back from the day-to-day and engage with the Triple Chasm framework to identify strategic gaps and opportunities. Building a start-up in this sector is no easy feat – the more we can do to de-risk the journey, the better we can support founders on the road to success.”

The eight graduates of the 2025 programme are:

• Five ALARM BIO – Tackling age-related diseases (Janette Thomas)
• Auxi Bio – Bioartificial liver technology (Hassan Rashidi)
• Healthspan Biotics – Affordable probiotic therapy for Alzheimer’s (Yizhou Yu, Civia Chen)
• Creasallis – Modified antibodies for solid tumours (Zahra Jawad, Nicola Ramsay, Silvia Mele, Haren Arulanantham)
• Isoform Oncology – Precision oncology reimagined (Lee Larcombe, Sarah Morgan, Isabella Garcia)
• Kilogen – Developing next-generation molecular glues (Mark McAlister, Michal Bista)
• Sentinal 4D – Biology-first, data-driven phenotypic drug discovery (Georgia Mitsi)
• Uncommon – RNA delivery for complex diseases (Benjamina Bollag, Ruth Faram)

     

The Catalyser programme is built around the Triple Chasm framework and guides start-ups through key strategic themes, including:

• Market space definition
• Proposition framing
• Customer targeting
• Contingent technology management
• IP strategy
• Product synthesis
• Human capital
• Funding strategy
• Strategic positioning

As part of the programme, all graduates received a complimentary CRO support package from award-winning partner Pharmidex.

Ash Alavijeh, Director of Operations at Pharmidex, said:
“It’s been a pleasure to support such an inspiring group of entrepreneurs. We believe strongly in providing hands-on, practical support to early-stage companies, and this partnership with SBC is a perfect example of how industry can play an active role in strengthening the innovation pipeline.”

Paul Witcombe, Life Sciences & Advanced Manufacturing Sector Lead at Hertfordshire Futures, added:
“Through our support for the Catalyser Programme, Hertfordshire Futures is proud to help accelerate the growth of high-potential early-stage life sciences businesses in our county. Every one of these ventures has the capacity to raise significant equity, create high-value jobs, and bring breakthrough medical innovations to market.

“By drawing on Hertfordshire’s rich life sciences heritage and deep well of expertise, we’re not just supporting individual companies, we’re strengthening the entire ecosystem for long-term growth and global impact.”

Prashant Shah, CEO and Co-Founder of o2h Discovery, commented:
“The Catalyser programme highlights the importance of strategic and scientific thinking hand in hand. We were proud to support these founders and look forward to watching their progress.”

SBC extends heartfelt thanks to all those who contributed to the success of this year’s programme:

• Our sponsor, Hertfordshire Futures, whose generous support made the programme possible
• Pharmidex, for their ongoing engagement and exclusive CRO support for the cohort
• Our 13 expert panellists – Ash Alavijeh, Chris Brown, Davide De Lucrezia, James Fry, Anne Horgan, Sheila Johnson, Emma Longland, Luis Lopez-Navas, Daniel Marshall, Jack O’Meara, Laura Fletcher, Prashant Shah, and Prabhu Velusami – for their time, insight, and generosity
• Asae Biotechnology Consulting, for providing cutting-edge AI support during the programme
• First Create the Media, for delivering invaluable one-to-one storytelling sessions with the companies
• Finally, to the 2025 cohort – for their energy, curiosity, and unwavering commitment. Your drive and ambition brought this programme to life.

Discover more about the SBC Catalyser programme and how to apply here.