Catching up with our first edition HEIPowered Startup Pitch Competition winner
Last year, the first edition of the HEIPowered Startup Pitch Competition brought together some of the most promising startups supported by the EIT Higher Education Initiative. After an exciting pitching session, three outstanding ventures stood out for their innovative solutions, strong business potential and positive societal impact: E.V.A Biosystems, ÄIO, and SAY IT Labs.
One year later, these startups have continued their entrepreneurial journey, turning ideas into tangible progress. As we launch the second edition of the competition, we wanted to reconnect with last year's winner, Alex Speakman, founder of E.V.A Biosystems, to hear how his startup has evolved, what winning the competition meant for his growth, and what advice he would give to this year's applicants.
From funding opportunities to increased visibility and valuable connections, his story highlights how a single pitch can open the door to new possibilities. Read on to discover where he is today and why he believes the HEIPowered Startup Pitch Competition is an opportunity not to be missed.
It’s been almost a year since you won. What have been the biggest milestones since then?
A lot of the biggest milestones over the last year have been technical ones, and those are the ones I’m really proud of.
We have made strong progress in taking the technology from earlier benchtop and 3D-printing proof-of-concept work towards larger-scale manufacturing methods, especially injection moulding. That jump is a big deal for us because it starts to show how the technology can move closer to the way plastics are actually used commercially.
We have also been getting much clearer on the commercial route, thinking about how our processes scale, how the technology fits into existing supply chains, and what the next stage of fundraising and growth needs to support.
How did winning the competition contribute to your growth?
Winning the competition has been absolutely amazing for us, and I’m so grateful for EIT’s support.
The cash prize made a real difference to our R&D. It gave us the flexibility to buy useful equipment, run experiments faster, increase our capacity and access support that we would otherwise have had to delay. That kind of flexible funding can give you back so much time to iterate and unlock a lot of progress.
The visibility has also been hugely valuable. Being recognised by EIT gives you a real credibility boost when speaking to investors, potential pilot partners and collaborators. It helps show that there is traction behind what we are doing.
The event itself was fantastic too. Going to Brussels and pitching as part of the EIT community put us in conversations with people we would not normally meet day to day. Some of those conversations have been extremely useful in shaping how we think about the company.
What impact has the EIT HEI ecosystem had on your entrepreneurial journey?
The EIT HEI ecosystem has shaped how I think about building the company as a whole, not just developing the technology.
Through the EIT CloudEARTHi programme, I started thinking much more seriously about how we embed sustainability and circular economy principles into the company itself, not just into the product. That has influenced how we think about the technology, the business model, and the commercialisation pathway.
This has been quite circular in itself. Thinking about sustainability more broadly has fed back into how we develop the technology and how we explain the value of what we are building.
The wider EIT network has also broadened the conversations we are having. It gets you speaking to people outside your usual bubble, which is especially valuable when you are working across different disciplines in the way we do (e.g., synthetic biology, materials, manufacturing and sustainability).
What advice would you give to startups applying this year?
Make the most of the people in the room.
The competition is not just about the pitch or the prize. It is a fantastic opportunity to speak to people from academia, industry, startups and the wider EIT network. You get access to perspectives that you probably would not come across if you stayed in your own field or local ecosystem.
Use it to sense-check what you are doing. Every conversation is a chance to refine your pitch and work out what people actually understand and take away, what resonates, and where you are being too technical or too convoluted.
Don’t be a wallflower, get involved, speak to people, ask questions and learn from the other startups. Some of the best advice I have taken into the company has come from casual conversations at events like this.
Where do you see your startup one year from now?
One year from now, I want us to be moving clearly towards commercial pilot activity.
Right now, the focus is on turning our technical progress into a pilot-ready package. I want to see that translate into a clear plan for what we demonstrate next, at what scale, and with which partners.
We will also be looking at fundraising again and growing the team within the next year. We have something that I think could be truly transformative, but it is going to take time and focus to get there, and I want to make sure we have the resources and team we need to go the distance.
Connect with Alex in the EIT Higher Education Initiative Community!