Event Six – From Seed to Scale

Not just recordings — a curated record of ambition, insight, and real industrial momentum.

Opening Keynote

Simon Biltcliffe
 
Simon Biltcliffe is a multi TED talk speaker and past IoD Director of the Year. He’s an international public speaker and business expert; widely acclaimed for his talks on his Marxist-capitalist business model, as well as talks on employee motivation and running a thriving organisation in the 21st century.
 

Fireside Chat

Bod Buckby, London Stock Exchange
 
Bod works with businesses to help them understand and access the capital markets. This includes both the
public capital markets via IPO, and also the London Stock Exchange’s new private capital markets.  He is
responsible for both the Main Market and the AIM growth market in the North.
 
Prior to joining the LSE, Bod was with investment bank Rothschild for 18 years, advising businesses and entrepreneurs on IPOs, capital raising, private equity, mergers and acquisitions.
 

Pitching at The Foundry

Dr Emma Welbourne, Founder and CTO of RNA Forge
 

Emma Welbourne is Founder and CTO of RNA Forge, which is closing the loop between scientific expertise and engineering in RNA manufacturing. By using real-world mRNA manufacturing and analytics services to inform product development, RNA Forge is building next-generation technologies that accelerate and de-risk RNA drug development.

https://www.linkedin.com/company/rna-forge/

Luisa Carvalho is CEO & Co-Founder of Nasalyzer Ltd
 

Luisa Carvalho is CEO & Co-Founder of Nasalyzer Ltd, developing non-invasive breath analysis technology to support faster gastric cancer triage. Nasalyzer combines breath sensing with data-driven pattern recognition to help stratify patients with gastrointestinal symptoms and improve endoscopy referrals. Luisa is also a PhD researcher in Microbiology at University of Sheffield, studying sex-specific host–pathogen interactions. She has led Nasalyzer through programmes including Cancer Tech Accelerator, ICURe Discover and INSIGNEO Commercialisation MedTech Cohort, and now collaborates with the AMRC and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals.

https://nasalyzer.com/

Mark Hewitt, Co-Founder and CTO of Lexcelerate 
 
Mark Hewitt is the Co-Founder and CTO of LEXcelerate, an AI-first legal technology company looking to transform UK conveyancing. LEXcelerate has built technology that reduces remortgage completion times from 6-8 weeks to just 10 days, automating manual tasks and cutting fee earner time from 5 hours to 15 minutes per transaction.
Mark brings over 30 years of experience building technology businesses, having previously taken a legal tech company from inception to acquisition by Verisk, the $30bn insurance software giant.
 
Mark is also a partner at Yorkshire AI Labs, combining deep technical expertise with commercial acumen, with a hands-on approach spanning both strategic and technical dimensions, from investor relations and acquisition strategy through to system architecture and development.
 

https://www.lexcelerate.ai/

Fran Ferris, Founder and CEO of Epona

Fran Ferris is the founder and CEO of Epona, an AI-enabled care and support planning platform designed to improve quality, consistency, and oversight in social care. Epona supports providers working with people with learning disabilities, autism, and complex needs, combining AI decision support with mandatory human PBS quality assurance.

Fran has over 20 years’ experience across social care, homelessness, and systems change, including serving as a CEO in the homelessness sector. Her work is shaped by both professional and lived experience of fragmented care systems, and a clear focus on building technology that supports better human decision-making in high-risk environments rather than replacing it.

She is currently leading Epona through its pre-seed raise and early adopter partnerships, co-producing a regulation-ready platform with providers to improve outcomes for people and services.

https://www.eponacares.com/

Closing Keynote

Ashley Tate
 
Ashley is an entrepreneur and investor with a strong track record in start-up to exit. He was Co-Founder and former CEO of Mina, an EV Tech business simplifying electric vehicle (EV) charging for businesses, which was sold to Corpay in 2023. He currently serves as Co-Chair of Sheffield Angels, supporting early-stage founders with investment. Ashley previously founded Split the Bills, a utility management platform for shared households, and Fit Property.