Innovator stories
The Undaunted team works with many innovators and startups across different sectors and contexts – search our full list of alumni and current companies. Once they progress through our programmes these founders join a thriving network of alumni at different stages of the entrepreneurial journey.
Meet some of our current and alumni founders below!
Scaling up climate innovation
The route to commercialisation is often long and complex. As our community of current and alumni startups grows we are increasing our scale-up support service to help companies flourish during the next, crucial stages of their development.
We work closely with colleagues across Imperial’s White City campus. This includes work with the Institute for Deep Tech Entrepreneurship to translate their groundbreaking research in this area into practical support for climate startups. Some of our alumni are in fact based within the thriving White City Innovation District as they scale up.
We engage thoughtfully with our startups and wider community to understand the barriers they face and amplify these in wider political and industrial arenas. We are founding members of Cleantech for UK, a initiative that seeks to supercharge UK innovation, and we also work with the Startup Coalition.
Women making waves in cleantech innovation
Kate Hofman
Kate Hofman is Founder of GrowUp Farms (which progressed through Undaunted‘s accelerator, now know as The Greenhouse, back in 2014), and CEO and Co-Founder of Pesto.
After studying for a Master’s in Environmental Technology at Imperial College London, Kate founded GrowUp Farms – the UK’s first vertical farm selling bagged salad to a UK supermarket.
Megan Hale
Megan Hale is CEO and Co-Founder of Team Repair, which progressed through The Greenhouse in 2023.
As a teen, Megan knew she wasn’t destined for a job sitting behind someone else’s desk. She was going to run her own business. Megan loved taking broken stuff apart and fixing it. So, when she found out about a Master’s in Design Engineering at Imperial, she knew it was for her.
Carmel Rafaeli
Carmel Rafaeli is an angel investor and venture partner who supports climate-positive startups with female founders.
Her first job was as a radio news producer, she worked in business development in Japan, and founded and managed a hospitality tech startup. She’s now an angel investor (making small investments of £2000 at a time in startups), and a Venture Partner at Conduit Ventures and Alma Angels.
Safia Qureshi
Safia Qureshi is Founder and CEO of pioneering and award-winning reusable packaging company, CLUBZERØ.
After qualifying as an architect Safia realised she wanted to make a more fundamental impact on how we live than she could by designing houses, schools and offices. She wanted to re-design part of the fabric of our cities in a sustainable, pioneering way.
Alex Park
Alex Park, Founder is Founder and CEO of Biofonic, a climate startup that uses acoustic sensors and AI to accelerate sustainable land management.
As a child growing up in Texas, Alex was fascinated by nature and food. But it was only after a career in data insights at Fortune 100 companies in Silicon Valley that she decided to combine her skills and interests to invent a technology to help farmers improve the soil and grow food sustainably.
Serena Oppenheim
Serena Oppenheim is Co-founder of Fin-Erth, which hosts global events, connecting climate professionals across finance, law, innovation, operations and policy to encourage collaboration. For the past two years it has hosted the Women in Climate Awards. Serena began her career developing windfarms, then founded her own company while battling two chronic health conditions, and now campaigns to ensure women in the climate space get the profile they deserve.
Climate Solutions Up-Close
Antoinette Nothomb & Emma Money, Cyanoskin
Antoinette Nothomb and Emma Money are Co-Founders of Cyanoskin, a new carbon capture technology utilising an algae based-coating designed to transform buildings into carbon dioxide-absorbing structures, reducing emissions and addressing urban pollution. Once applied, the photosynthetic coating grows and thickens, allowing it to capture carbon dioxide in urban environments. Motivated to build a startup in the climate field, the co-founders met at Imperial College London and were drawn at how closely they mirrored each other’s values.
Alain Alban, Isometric Outcomes
Alain Alban is the Founder of Isometric Outcomes, which has come through both The Greenhouse and Better Futures Retrofit Accelerator at Undaunted. Specialising in bathroom dehumidification and heat recovery, its flagship product is the Xsteamator – a system that combines the functions of a shower and ventilation system in one compact and energy efficient device. Alain tells us about his motivations for working in the cleantech space and why he’s focused on tackling inefficient building ventilation systems.
James Dearsley, Verv Energy
James Dearsley is CEO of the award-winning Verv Energy, revolutionising energy efficiency with its patented technology designed to eliminate the 4% of energy wasted by heating and cooling systems. From contributing to the sustainability vision of the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics to staying ahead of emerging trends, James’ journey with Verv provides invaluable insights into the challenges and opportunities within the built environment.
Josephine Bromley, MapMortar
Josephine Bromley is COO of MapMortar, a platform for portfolio decarbonisation at speed and scale. From making profitable yet empowering decarbonisation decisions, the team offers a one-of-a-kind software based on principles inspired by Digital Twins. Josephine discusses the team’s journey in representing all kinds of use-cases, especially ones which are underserved.
Baz Iyer, Vulcan
Max Bloomfield, VundaHaus
Max Bloomfield is Co-founder and COO of VundaHaus, which is creating prefabricated insulation kits to retrofit existing homes. The team’s mission is to build a pathway for more jobs in the design and pre-fabrication stage as opposed to reworking a building on a scaffold. Hear Max talk about the inspiration behind starting a career in cleantech.
Emily Taylor, Co-Founder and Director at SAGES
Osas Omoigiade, CEO and Co-Founder of Deep.Meta
Deep.Meta’s software optimises steel production by harnessing data to create digital versions of potential defects. This enables real-time insights to warn operators of casting cracks, or where target-properties won’t be achieved in a rolling schedule. Co-Founder, Osas Omoigiade, reflects on his journey to, through, and beyond Imperial’s climate accelerator programme, and how the team have grown their cleantech idea.
Hanson Cheng, Co-Founder of The Tyre Collective
Christophe Williams, CEO and Founder of Naked Energy
Thomas Robinson, Founder of Adaptavate
Reka Tron, COO and Co-Founder of Multus
Meet Reka Tron, Co-Founder of Multus, a team of scientists and engineers who believe that tackling the short-comings of conventional livestock farming is critical to securing a sustainable future. They are developing the key ingredient, the growth media, to make cultivated meat affordable and profitable, to provide a truly sustainable alternative to today’s global dependence on traditional animal farming.
Taking a hands-on approach to insect farming
Working with the foundations of net zero cement
A whole new category of sparkle
Getting under the skin of EV charging
Urban Electric’s retractable EV charging technology is enabling more people to be part of the electrification journey. Undaunted’s reporter, Franca Davenport, found out more about the technology.
Getting to the roots of healthy soil
Innovating across business and regulation for net zero energy
Keeping in touch with our food’s freshness
Keeping an eye on safer, more sustainable cycling
Software services to unlock sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa
OAK Network: Gaetan Cuvillier and Sasha Ginsburg
Dr Enass Abo-Hamed, Founder and CEO of H2GO Power
Simple energy savings from smart hot water tanks
Arthur Kay, CEO and Co-Founder of Skyroom
Paul Baranowski, CEO and Co-Founder of Climate Edge
Climate Edge connects smallholder farmers to services they need to succeed, to create a fairer and sustainable future for global agriculture. Its Farmer CRM utilises SMS to ensure that remote smallholders, no matter their location, can receive affordable and accessible agronomical guidance from global experts in their field. Co-Founder, Paul Baranowski, reflects on his journey.
