Meet the Cohort 2018/19
Operon (formerly Coli)
Multiplatform lab work management application
Operon aims to improve the efficiency of science with software. Science is held back by the way scientists manage their lab work. Operon is a multiplatform ELN application to easily set up, execute and record experiments from the desktop to the bench-top. Unlike competitors, it is both easy-to-use and ready for bench-top integration.
Reza Rohani
(Team Lead)
PhD Bioengineering
Serbald Verkuijl
(Product)
PhD Interdisciplinary Biosciences
Stefan Leape (Business)
MSc Biochemistry undergraduate
AllGood
Elderly care app that helps you checks on loved ones
AllGood was founded on the belief that families shouldn't have to worry about their elderly loved ones living alone. All current solutions entail functional, emotional, and economic compromises. As 40% of seniors have a smartphone, AllGood decided to solve this problem with a simple mobile application. It provides an alternative to obsolete panic buttons (of which half are never worn).
Maggie Chen
MPhil Languages undergraduate
Carlo Quadrio Curzio
BA Human Sciences
Benjamin Griffiths
DPhil Quantum Physics
Daniel Ma
BSc Computer Science
Neurolytics (formerly Rebndl)
Intelligent digital news subscription
Rebndl is on the verge of transforming the news publishing industry. Currently, 67% of people read the news online for free, and are increasingly looking to access a highly curated selection of news stories on their smartphones. Through its digital news subscription platform, Rebndl integrates the emerging trends in news consumption behaviour with the changing business demands of newspapers to shape the future of news publishing.
After having been equipped with the skills needed to found a start-up in the OX1 Incubator, the original Rebndl team moved on to a new idea: Neurolytic Healthcare Ltd. They have already received funding from two sources and have a headcount of 10 dedicated team members including a prominent advisory board.
Neurolytic Healthcare Ltd. delivers AI-driven real-time event prediction and pharmacogenomic testing for neurological disorders to improve patient quality of life and help clinicians optimise prescription decisions. It draws on recent advances and successes in personalised medicine and pharmacogenomics, supported by NHS England's aim to embed personalised healthcare across the NHS. Given the current suboptimal management of neurological disorders and lack of specialised healthcare staff in the UK, there remains a significant unmet need for digital healthcare providers who can deliver effective neurological event prediction prediction tools and a systematic optimisation of pharmacological treatment. By covering and personalising the complete treatment pathway, Neurolytic Healthcare ensures improved quality of life and optimised clinical decision-making, whilst reducing the significant costs to the economy and healthcare system.
Roman Rothärmel
DPhil Neuroscience
Tom Kent
DPhil Medical Science
Artale
Art marketplace platform developing limited editions of art derivatives
The Chinese Authorised Art Derivatives market has an estimated size of 10 billion USD. Yet, it still has untapped opportunities. Artale addresses four primary issues faced by artists (lack of knowledge of how to monetise their art beyond galleries; lack of motivation to seek potential buyers; no market for the transactions of mid-tier artists’ works; and limited digital means to display and sell their art) and two issues faced by customers (middle income families do not have sufficient income to purchase high end artworks; and many potential customers are unaware of the range of offerings of the art market).
Lucy Li
BA Economics and Management undergraduate
Lena Ma
MBA
Helen Chan
British and European studies
Intrepidus
App using CBT to overcome the fear of needles
The current solutions to a fear of needs (talking therapies, distraction and relaxation) are either ineffective or expensive and inconvenient. Intrepidus provides convenient, low-cost, therapy-quality care to help people overcome their fear of needles. It does so via an app powered by AI and CBT which identifies and challenges patients’ fears and unhelpful thoughts and behaviours.
Zaki Krag Nielsen
DPhil Medical Sciences
Vlad Moldoveanu
MSc Mathematics and Computer Science
Ceres
Fresh pasta making robot
Ceres tackles the ‘hungry person’s trilemma’: when choosing between convenient, affordable and healthy food, you can generally have at most two of the three. This trilemma is most noteworthy during the lunchtime rush, which presents a lucrative opportunity: the lunchtime market in the UK is £5 billion per annum and growing.
Ceres is creating a high-end pasta making robot that can deliver a fresh pasta meal from order to service in less than 3 minutes.
OX1 is the only entity in European universities that rewards £18,000+ equity-free grant annually to idea-stage startups
OX1 understands and caters for the needs of student entrepreneurs far better than current university or college-led support systems. We have created an incubator programme which is effectively structured to support the early stages of founding a start-up.
We do not take equity or IP, and provide end-to-end support throughout the process of start-up foundation. In addition to the incubator programme, we run social events and have established a strong alumni network of student entrepreneurs and mentors.
37 Startups Launched
£70,000+ Equity Free Grants Disbursed
80+ Student Founders
Read the 2019/20 Annual Report Here
How It Works
Stage 1: Team Formation
We invite students to apply to the OX1 Incubator programme if they have an idea for a start-up or key skills (whether technical or ‘soft skills’).
We then select the best out of Oxford. We guide them to build formidable teams based on complementary skill sets.
Stage 3 : Demo Day
The start-ups pitch their ideas to a panel of investors, CEOs and members of the Oxford entrepreneurship community. The ideas are scored on their novelty, market and scalability, profitability and feasibility by our judges. The best start-ups receive financial investment from OX1 Incubator in the form of equity-free grants.
Stage 2:
Mentorship and Workshops
We hold a 12-week programme to develop students’ start-ups from ideas-stage to being investment-ready. Product experts and investors run workshops on 3 core areas: ‘idea validation’, ‘build’ and ‘growth’. Mentors are allocated based on students’ problem statement and target market.
Alumni Highlights
OX1 2018/19
prev. Divehealth
What: Mable is a personalized migraine clinic using DNA to find and provide the right medication alongside continuous expert care
Success: graduated from Y-Combinator’s S21 batch and has raised a pre-seed and seed round
OX1 2021/22
prev. Climaview
What: Earthwise helps solar developers, retrofitters, and other sustainability businesses to streamline their business, drive revenue and provide financing to end customers.
Success: raised a pre-seed round and is launching a pilot with a major UK bank within a year of launch
OX1 2019/20
What: LegalMe provides an automated triage and legal aid eligibility checking tool for advice centres
Success: selected to join the UK's Tech Nation Lawtech Sandbox
OX1 2021/22
Caviar (prev. Danu)
What: Caviar is an on-chain, gas-efficient automated market maker (AMM) protocol that leverages a desirability classifier to aggregate NFT liquidity and unlock the potential to trade an entire NFT collection. Caviar facilitates swapping between NFTs and ERC20 tokens in whole or fractional amounts.
Success: raised a VC-backed pre-seed round and a strategic angel round within a year of launch
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Since 2018, OX1 Incubator is proud to have collaborated with:
Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society
Oxford University CompSoc
CapitOx
Oxford Fintech & Legaltech Society
Oxford Drone Society
Oxford University Rocketry Society
Oxford Hub
Oxford Robotics and Additive Manufacturing Society
Oxford VR/AR Society
Oxford Art Club
Oxford Women in Business
Oxford African & Caribbean Society
Enterprising Oxford