On the 20th of July 2022, the department of UCL Innovation & Enterprise hosted one of their most prestigious annual events, alongside an outdoor barbecue to celebrate the beautiful British summer of 2022 and of course the achievements of their very own start-ups, where Your Cue was recognised as the Best Start-up of the year.
The evening began with a welcome from Jerry Allen the Director of Entrepreneurship, followed by some thoughtful words from Professor Geraint Rees, UCL Vice-Provost (Research, Innovation & Global Engagement).
Period Harmony, PAHUS, BoxxDocks and GatherAid were all start-ups that were recognized in their categories of Most promising female-led start-up award, Most promising social enterprise award, Most impactful on the Sustainable Development Goals award, Most impactful enterprise for Equality Diversity and Inclusion award respectively.
This was followed by the main event of the evening which was a pitching competition for the award of being recognised as the Santander X UCL Hatchery Start-up of the year. This would then be judged by the audience who would vote for the final winner of the Santander university sponsored competition.
For what was a very long 45 minute break between the pitches and the results, the 3 companies worked the room full of voters, trying to convince people to vote for them, while at the same time solving genuine doubts and answering questions that would later also help them feel more confident about their own ventures.
Slowly the clock ticked 18:15 and it was time for Terry Hosten (UCL) and Remy from Santander to announce the winners for the night. Followed by a very long drum roll by Jerry, the results were announced.
It gives me immense pleasure to announce that our company Your Cue was voted by the audience to receive the prize money and the recognition of being the UCL Hatchery Start-up of the year for 2022. Sonakshi Senthil and Dr Nikhit Anilbhai were called on to the stage to collect the ginormous check and the night ended in smiles.
The event has also been covered in UCL news and MyScience web articles, links to which have been provided below!
- Dr Nikhit Anilbhai