Cambridge founders connect with investors across New York and San Francisco

This September, eight University of Cambridge companies travelled to New York and San Francisco for the first Founders at the University of Cambridge US Investor Days, meeting investors, entrepreneurs and sector experts in both cities.

Across the two events, founders showcased their companies, explored how their technologies and markets resonated with different audiences and gathered insights that built on the work already taking place through the support of the START 3.0 programme and wider Cambridge community.

Conversations across two cities

The first Investor Day took place in New York on 16 September, where the companies presented their ventures to a mix of angel investors, venture capitalists and family offices.

Over the course of the visit, founders also met representatives from the UK Government’s Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, investors, partners and prospective customers. Those conversations explored the differences between the UK and US investment landscapes, giving teams the opportunity to see how people approaching their companies from a different market interpreted the opportunity, evidence and ambition behind them.

Six days later, they travelled to San Francisco for the second Investor Day. Building on their experience in New York, founders introduced their companies to a wider mix of generalist, deep-tech and infrastructure investors, while visits to Y Combinator and Plug and Play offered insight into the Bay Area ecosystem.

The change of setting, at the heart of Silicon Valley, offered a fresh lens on the companies’ technologies and fundraising plans, where there was strong appetite for storytelling and scale. While conversations in New York often centred on consumer applications, San Francisco reflected growing interest in the infrastructure underpinning emerging technologies. As the AI wave encounters physical limits around compute, energy and hardware, attention is increasingly turning beyond application-layer software towards the deep technologies behind it, making the city a particularly strong fit for research-led ventures emerging from the University of Cambridge.

For Ioannis Prattis, Co-founder and CEO of Senesys.Bio, the experience reinforced the company’s ambitions in the US:

“The trip confirmed that the US is the right market for Senesys.Bio, both for the capital and the expertise we need to reach the clinic. What struck me was how many investors already saw delivery as the reason senolytic trials have failed and how willing they were to back a team that has a credible way to solve it.”

The pace of the trip meant feedback could be put into practice quickly. Between the two cities, founders refined how they communicated their ambitions, adapting to shorter meetings, quicker decisions and more direct narratives.

A first for START

The US Investor Days marked a new development for START, the flagship pre-seed accelerator from Founders at the University of Cambridge. Over 24 weeks, it supports early-stage companies connected to the University as founders refine their commercial strategy, understand their customers and prepare for growth. Within the programme, each company receives tailored support from Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, Operators-in-Residence, mentors, investors and industry partners.

For its third edition, START 3.0, this has included a longer Customer Sprint, giving founders more time to understand where their technologies create value in the market, and, for the first time, Investor Days in the US.

Ryan Taylor, Principal at Fusion Fund and US Investment Operator-in-Residence for START 3.0, has worked with the cohort throughout the programme, helping founders better understand and engage with the US investment landscape:

“START bridges Cambridge’s most defensible deep tech and global capital. The US market moves quickly, with customers, investors and operators often thinking about growth and commercial traction from the outset. Understanding that pace can be invaluable for founders as they turn breakthrough research into scalable companies.”

A cohort spanning science, technology and AI

With technologies addressing challenges across health, sustainability, infrastructure and intelligence, this year’s cohort comprises:

• AdcoTx, developing a therapeutic intended to improve first-line treatment options for colorectal cancer
• AILA Biotech, developing targeted gene delivery for chronic neuroinflammatory diseases
• Auralytica, creating holographic hydrogel sensors for real-time molecular monitoring
• Cambridge Cryogenics, building ultra-low-temperature solid-state refrigerators for quantum computing, quantum communication and AI data centres
• Cosysense, using AI agents and digital twins to improve building operations
• Neela Biotech, developing sustainable fuels and chemicals using synthetic biology, AI and existing biogas infrastructure
• Satorus Group, building AI agents for intelligence investigations
• Senesys.Bio, developing precision nanomedicine for fibrotic and age-related diseases

Next stop: London

For the programme team, the value of the visit extended beyond delivering a pitch in new ecosystems. Sarah Ranchev-Hale, Director of Entrepreneurship at Cambridge Enterprise, shares:

“The aim was never just to take the same pitch to two new cities. We wanted founders to hear different questions, see how their companies landed with international audiences and bring that learning back into their companies in Cambridge. The cohort now has new insights and connections to build on as they prepare for London.”

The cohort will take the stage again on 8 October for the START 3.0 Investor Day in London.

For the founders, it marks the final milestone in the programme and an opportunity to share how their companies have developed over the past six months.

To explore more about the companies and teams taking part, visit the portfolio page. For the latest updates, follow Founders at the University of Cambridge on LinkedIn.