UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund

Hassan Mahmudul studied at Durham with a focus on molecular biology and fusion proteins, and has worked at the Vienna Biocenter researching transcription factors in stem cell differentiation during early embryonic development. He developed an interest in startups as one of the first employees at a Newcastle start-up, previously founded a venture-backed tech startup, and worked as a start-up scout for Ada Ventures. At UKI2S he screens new investment opportunities, conducts initial diligence, and supports portfolio companies, with a focus on engineering biology.

Oliver Sexton joined Midven in April 2014 to manage the UK Innovation & Science Seed Fund's engineering biology investments. He previously oversaw commercialisation of bioengineering and medical technologies at Imperial Innovations and served on the board of oncology company Acublate Ltd, with earlier commercial and partnering roles at Ark Therapeutics, biotech buy-side analysis, and pharma strategy consulting. He holds a BSc in Molecular Biology/Biotechnology and an MSc in Plant Science from Bristol University.

Sakura Holloway joined UKI2S in December 2023 to lead its Knowledge Assets investment portfolio. She previously served as Head of Asset Portfolio at the University of Manchester Innovation Factory, and held roles as Venture Coach for the EIC Accelerator programme, Partner at Start Codon sourcing early-stage healthcare companies, and an investment role at Australian healthcare VC OneVentures. She was earlier Chief IP Counsel at Benitec and holds a Master's in IP Law alongside a background in molecular biology.

Shruti Iyengar is an Investment Director at Future Planet Capital, where she leads the Space sub-fund within UKI2S and sits on the Investment Committee of the Blue Ocean Fund. She previously worked as an Investor at Sustainable Ventures, managing a portfolio of climate technology companies and running its accelerator, and earlier worked across Southeast Asia from Singapore on programmes spanning advanced manufacturing, energy, environmental technologies, healthcare, and robotics. She holds a dual degree in Mathematics and Economics from Nanyang Technological University and a Master's in Finance from London Business School.

Dr. Andrew Muir is Head of Seed Investments at Future Planet Capital and fund principal for UKI2S, and co-manages the Stephenson Fund and Blue Ocean Fund. He previously held roles at Zeneca, Biocompatibles, a US medical disinfection start-up, and NESTA, and holds a Chemistry degree and PhD from the University of Oxford.

Mark White is Investment Director and Investment Committee member of UKI2S, having joined Midven in 2006. He has over twenty years of investment experience across UK investment banking and emerging markets, previously led NESTA's investment operations, and holds an MBA from London Business School.

Alison Campbell became CEO of the Government Office for Technology Transfer (GOTT) in April 2022. She previously spent over eight years as Director of Knowledge Transfer Ireland, and earlier held roles including interim CEO of the Medical Research Council's technology transfer company (MRCT) and led technology transfer and research support at King's College London, having begun her career in the biotech industry. She has chaired the board of AUTM, co-founded and chaired ATTP, was a founding Director of Praxis (now PraxisAuril), and was awarded an OBE in 2010.

Betty Bonnardel is the CEO and founder of AB5 Consulting, a B Corp certified firm working on projects in space, satellite, nuclear, and energy. She also founded Farmer Charlie, a platform focused on farming in remote areas of Africa. She holds two Master's degrees in aeronautical and space engineering and an MBA, and has worked with organizations including NASA, ESA, the UK Space Agency, and UN agencies. She joined UKI2S as a Space Advisor.

Colin Story joined UKI2S as an advisory board member in November 2023 and has a background in business development within engineering biology organisations. He started his career at GE Healthcare in product development and project management before moving to Isis Innovation, where he built a business development team managing over 200 medical science innovations from Oxford University, and later served as Operations Director at OrganOx. He co-founded OxSonics in 2013 and was its CEO from 2014 to 2022, raising £25m across three rounds.

Dr Peter Hamley is an Advisory Board Member at UKI2S with a career in the biotech industry. He began at AstraZeneca after completing a PhD at Cambridge University, postdoctoral studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from the University of Bath, and later spent more than a decade at Sanofi in drug discovery leadership and development roles. He currently serves as CSO of Samsara Therapeutics, which works on autophagy therapeutics, and has authored more than 60 patents, papers and book chapters.

Eddie Alleyn spent thirty-five years in UK Government service across defence, security and foreign affairs. From 2011 to the end of 2016 he was Chair and CEO of HMGCC, a part of the FCDO focused on engineering, manufacturing and integrating secure communications and other technology systems for Government. Since then he has held Non-Executive and Advisory roles supporting British deep tech start-ups and scale-ups, particularly in London and Oxford, and is a Fellow of the IET.

John Patterson is a former Army officer whose final role was as a board member and executive director overseeing a £3.5bn per annum portfolio spanning information systems; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; and medical technology. He was a founding member of the oversight board for the jHub, Strategic Command's innovation platform. He advises technology companies working in artificial intelligence and data analytics, engineering, medical technology, space, surveillance and uncrewed systems.

John Tingay is the CTO of Paragraf and has more than two decades of experience developing capital equipment for the semiconductor and electronics industries, spanning front-end semiconductor processes through wafer-level packaging. He has held non-executive roles at high-technology companies in the semiconductor and advanced imaging markets, and began his career in consulting engineering, later working on systems for particle accelerators and synchrotron physics.

Joyeeta Das joins UKI2S as an Advisory Board Member, with international work experience across the UK, Germany, India, and the US. She began her career at Cisco and went on to found several companies applying technology and data science, including SuperPitch (founded 2018 and later sold), which helped women secure funding. She is currently CEO and co-founder of Samundra Oceans, a company focused on sustainable seaweed harvesting, and serves as an ambassador for women in innovation with Innovate UK.

Marcel Gehrung started his career in medical sciences and earned a PhD in Machine Learning in Healthcare from the University of Cambridge. He is CEO and co-founder of Cyted, a company focused on improving access to digestive health diagnostics for cancer and inflammatory diseases. His work has been recognized with a Forbes 30 under 30 listing and the Alexander Fleming Prize from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Dr Massimo Noro represents UKRI's Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) as the Special Partner in UKI2S. In 2018 he was appointed STFC Director for Business Development at the Daresbury Campus, where he leads business development, incubation programmes and support for early-stage deep-tech companies. He previously held global R&D roles at Unilever and holds a PhD in physical chemistry from UCLA, with published work in soft matter and self-assembling systems.

Nicholas Barsby is Chief of Staff for the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA), where he oversees programme management, budgeting, performance reporting, and communications. He previously served as a logistics officer in the Army and as a Senior Military Advisor at the Defence Science Technology Laboratory, and earlier managed a Government Major Projects Portfolio (GMPP) programme.

Nick Bassett is Associate Director of Innovation at the BBSRC, where he leads work to strengthen the UK bio-innovation ecosystem and link scientific research with commercial investment, covering biotechnology R&D programmes, the BBSRC Campus network, and enterprise initiatives. He previously developed Innovate UK's Investor Partnerships programme, supported the case for further investment in the Biomedical Catalyst, and co-founded an immunohistochemical screening company. He spent over 15 years in the medical devices sector focusing on diagnostics development.

Ruth Elliot trained as an accountant with Deloitte and subsequently held roles in central government focused on corporate services, systems implementation, and financial control. She served as Deputy CFO at UK Research and Innovation, overseeing a budget of over £7bn, and later became Chief Financial Officer and Director of Corporate Services at the UK Atomic Energy Authority.

Sam Martin previously worked at Seedrs, an equity crowdfunding platform, where he supported a sector-agnostic portfolio of over 700 early-stage startups on fundraising, corporate actions, and retail investor protections. He holds an Integrated Masters in International Relations and Global Issues from the University of Nottingham.

Thomas Storey is a Senior Associate at Future Planet Capital, working across UKI2S' Defence, Space and Fusion portfolios. He holds a Master's degree in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering and has over a decade of experience in the aerospace industry. He previously worked as an engineer at Surrey Satellites (SSTL), developed defence technologies at QinetiQ, and served as a Principal Consultant at London Economics advising on space-sector strategy.

Tim Irish has spent 35 years in the life sciences industry, holding senior executive positions at health technology companies across Europe and North America, including GSK, GE, and Philips. He is a Professor of Practice at King's College London and previously served nearly seven years as Vice-Chair of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. He currently holds several non-executive board roles at health and digital technology companies in the UK, Europe, and the USA.

Tony Raven is a researcher and entrepreneur focused on university research commercialisation and venture investment. He served as CEO of Cambridge Enterprise, the University of Cambridge's commercialisation arm, for ten years until 2021, and founded Cambridge Innovation Capital and co-founded TenU, a partnership of university technology transfer offices. Earlier he was at the University of Southampton, where he co-created IP Group and helped establish the SETsquared incubator partnership, and previously founded three start-ups and conducted research at Oxford and Osaka Universities.