Cambridge trio win at East of England StartUp Awards
Three Cambridge companies were among the 22 winners announced at the 2024 East of England StartUp Awards last week.
Ever Resource, CardiaTec Biosciences and Product Heads were among those amazing individuals who have had a great idea, spotted the opportunity and taken the risks to launch a new product or service.
Upcycling innovator Ever Resource, which develops low-carbon solutions including for batteries and chemicals, won both the Cleantech StartUp of the Year and Global StartUp of the Year awards. The Eagle Labs-based company’s CEO, Athan Fox, said: “Winning these awards is not just a milestone for Ever Resource, but a validation of our mission to redefine the recycling industry. It’s a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team who have relentlessly pursued excellence. These awards motivate us to continue driving innovation and sustainable practices in the circular economy.”
Meanwhile, Product Heads won the Professional Services StartUp of the Year award.
Tim Wilkinson, Product Heads’ founder, said: “We’re delighted to be a winner at the East of England StartUp Awards for the second year in a row. During a very turbulent nine months for the tech sector we’ve worked closely with our early stage and growth stage clients, helping build great teams and realise value from their products as efficiently as possible.
“We’ve also been working with larger organisations such at Cambridge University Press & Assessment, helping their product teams shape up to meet the opportunities and challenges of the incredibly dynamic tech landscape we all now operate in.”
The third Cambridge-based winner, CardiaTec Biosciences, was also celebrating. Raphael Peralta, CEO and co-founder of CardiaTec Biosciences, said the win “is a testament to the value that our data driven approach has to offer to the field of cardiovascular drug discovery”.
As well as being recognised as the best in their sector in the East of England, all the winners will now progress to the inaugural national UK Startup Awards final where they will be competing against category winners from the rest of the UK. This will not only give them the opportunity to be crowned the best in their sector nationally but also to become the UK StartUp of the Year.
The awards are supported nationally by Starling Bank, Airwallex, Chime Agency, Development Bank of Wales, EvaBuild, ForrestBrown, GiftRound, GS1 UK, Join Talent, OVHcloud, Project Simply, ScoreApp, SFC Capital and the Welsh government.
Harriet Rees, CIO at Starling Bank said: “Turning an idea into a successful business takes a lot of courage and dedication. Congratulations to all the companies on winning their categories in the East of England and making it to this year’s UK National Final. Start-ups need certainty to plan ahead. It’s great to see so many thrive, especially in these challenging economic times.”
Nearly 70,000 new firms were created in the East of England in 2023 and, according to Prof Dylan Jones-Evans, creator of the awards, this demonstrates the growing importance of entrepreneurs to the regional economy.
Prof Jones-Evans said: “Start-ups are the life of any economy and that is especially true in the East of England where those new businesses are contributing to job creation, innovation, and prosperity across the whole of this entrepreneurial region.
“It’s been an honour and a pleasure to read the stories of those founders who have spotted the opportunity and taken the risk to launch their own venture. All of the winners have demonstrated that they deserve to win their categories and I’m looking forward to having the ‘best of the best’ from the East of England competing at the UK final later this year.”
The UK final will take place on 12 September at Ideas Fest – the festival for entrepreneurs, business leaders, disruptors, change-makers and decision-makers.
The full list of winners is available at startupawards.uk/2024-east-of-england.
