Stress-sensing wearables, earlier eye disease detection, athlete "digital twins" and story-led language learning were among the innovations on show as 12 student and graduate founders pitched to investors, partners and supporters at this year's Startup Summer Accelerator Showcase.
Instant ID verification takes top prize
After three months of intensive company development, the founders competed for a share of £10,000 in front of a judging panel featuring Zainab Qasim, Portfolio and Platform Manager at Old College Capital — the University of Edinburgh's investment team — Mary Jane Brouwers, Director at Mint Ventures, and Dan McKiddie, Investment Manager at Archangel Investors.
Pitches were split into 5-minute and 3-minute formats.
5-minute pitch winners:
Taking first place and £6,000 was Tokenive, founded by Amirreza Sarencheh — a University of Edinburgh alumnus and member of staff in the School of Informatics — with external team member Diego Gallegos. Tokenive is replacing document-based verification with instant, cryptographic proof, eliminating manual review, forgery risk and operational cost for any institution that needs to verify who it's dealing with.
Second place and £3,000 went to Business School alumna Eveline Kuchmak with TheiaMuse, a B2B feasibility intelligence platform helping museums and touring exhibition producers assess exhibition-venue fit earlier — reducing wasted sales effort, planning risk and costly mismatches.
Third place and £1,000 was awarded to School of Engineering graduate Lukas Berr for Boxd, a folding cargo-utility bike.
3-minute pitch winners:
First place went to Business School graduate Lachlan Hay and School of Biology graduate Elijah Downs with TechTwin, a performance tech startup turning wearable and biometric data into a digital simulation of the human body — allowing athletes to forecast the physiological impact of new training or nutrition plans before they commit to them.
Second place went to soon-to-be Business School graduate Refilwe Digoamaje with Ulimi, a story-first indigenous language learning platform for children aged 3–15, using interactive narrated folktales, gaming and webtoons to restore mother-tongue confidence and reconnect children with their cultural identity and heritage.
Entrepreneurial Spirit Award
Voted for by the cohort, the Entrepreneurial Spirit Award recognises a founder who goes above and beyond to support their peers. This year it went to Eveline Kuchmak, founder of TheiaMuse, who consistently showed up as a generous, engaged peer — offering thoughtful feedback, encouraging others to pursue funding opportunities and making valuable introductions. Her determination and willingness to have genuine, memorable conversations left a lasting positive impression on the group. The award carries a £250 prize.
Eveline Kuchmak, founder of TheiaMuse, said:
I was thrilled to win second place, and receiving the Entrepreneurial Spirit Award from my fellow founders made it even more special.
The Startup Summer Accelerator gave me a supportive community of founders and mentors to test my thinking, challenge my assumptions and clarify where I want to take TheiaMuse next. The prize funding will help me take the next big step toward building the platform and getting it into the hands of museums and exhibition producers. I'm really excited to see where it goes from here. The programme may be ending, but it really feels like the beginning of a new chapter for TheiaMuse."
A summer of specialist support
Sponsored by Santander Universities and the CHAI Hub, this year's cohort accessed the CHAI network alongside specialist workshops, one-to-one mentoring and founder talks delivered by industry and alumni. Highlights included sessions with Techstart Ventures — a first-cheque venture capital firm backing extraordinary founders at the earliest stages of building globally ambitious companies — alongside talks from Andrew Richards, founder of Codeplay Software, and Douglas Martin, Edinburgh Innovations alumnus and founder of MiAlgae. Founders also received tailored one-to-one support to accelerate product development, market validation and fundraising readiness.
Founders hailed from across the University, including the Schools of Engineering, Informatics, Biological Sciences, Population Health Sciences, Neurological and Cardiovascular Sciences, the Business School, the School of Biology, the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, and Edinburgh College of Art.
Sarah Gibbens, Enterprise Education Lead and manager of the Startup Summer Accelerator, said:
It has been inspiring to watch our 2026 startup founders grow. Over the past three months they have driven their ventures forward tirelessly while also embracing an intensive programme of support. This year's cohort is a fantastic example of the depth of talent and innovation among students at the University of Edinburgh. It has been a privilege having them on this year's accelerator programme, and I'm excited to see what they achieve next."
The Startup Summer Accelerator is a three-month programme designed to help entrepreneurs from the University of Edinburgh turn their ideas into thriving businesses. Called "the best programme in Edinburgh to accelerate your business from idea to reality" by past participants, it offers funding, mentorship and essential skills to drive startup success.
