After crowning Reclinker as winners in 2025, the Pitch Competition is back bigger than ever in 2026. This year, the stage is set for showcasing even more groundbreaking ideas from across the UK and around the world.
Taking place on the main stage of the Corn Exchange, offering a unique opportunity to present to a focused global audience of investors and industry leaders.
The official Cambridge Tech Week Pitch Competition offers one ambitious startup or scaleup the opportunity to showcase their business in front of an audience of investors, founders, mentors, industry leaders, and innovation experts from across the UK and beyond.
Open to high-growth technology businesses with strong commercial potential, the competition will identify five exceptional companies to pitch live on the Cambridge Corn Exchange stage during Start-up to Scale-up Day on Wednesday 16 September.
Location: Corn Exchange, Cambridge
Date: Wednesday 16 September
Time: 12:30 – 14:45*
*final timings to be confirmed
Live Pitch Competition Judging Panel
Emmi Nicholl
Emmi has an educational background in Applied Linguistics, but her career path always led her into operations leadership roles. She has worked in finance, consulting and telecoms, across two continents, and has led a tech start-up as COO. This has given her the advantage of being familiar with the start-up journey.
Emmi is the CEO aka Deal Sorcerer (yes, that’s really her job title) of the angel investment group, Cambridge Angels – a group of investors who are almost all exited founders themselves. The group provides smart capital from entrepreneurs to entrepreneurs and supports innovative science and engineering-based technology companies. Emmi’s role is to support Cambridge Angels’ reach to attract high quality investment opportunities
Marilena Ioannidou
Marilena Ioannidou is a venture investor, mentor and strategic advisor with over 20 years of experience investing in and supporting innovative businesses. She has worked with founders, investors and policymakers to help scale high-growth companies, bringing expertise in investment strategy, venture finance, commercialisation and business growth.
Marilena works closely with founders, boards and investors to help businesses navigate critical stages of growth—from shaping strategy and securing investment to scaling operations, forging strategic partnerships and creating long-term value. She is passionate about supporting ambitious teams developing technologies with the potential to deliver meaningful economic, societal and environmental impact, with particular interests spanning AI, fintech, climate technology, edTech and deep tech more broadly.
Zickie Lim
Zickie heads up our Venture Capital and Investments Team. Her clients range from institutional VC funds managers, corporate venture funds, family offices and business angels and angel groups. She and her team also advise a range of entrepreneurial and fast growth start-ups, spin-outs and scale ups on their set ups, investment readiness and fundraisings from pre-seed and seed through to late stage Series A, B, C and beyond. Her practice has a strong sector focus on Technology (from IT/telecoms/software to deep tech to cleantech and agtech) and Life Sciences.
Pre-Judging Pitch Competition Panel
Jamie Bignal
Through a career spanning almost 20 years, Jamie has worked for a number of Corporate and Investment banks. After 8 years running HSBC’s Growth Team in Cambridge, he joined the Innovation Bank in 2024. His role is to work with, support and connect with Founders across the ecosystem.
Paul Hughes
With over 30 years of experience in the innovation, life sciences & technology sector, Paul joined BDO in 2024 to lead the development of BDO’s sector practice in Cambridge. He also co-leads BDO’s National Life Science sector leadership team.
Paul has a wealth of knowledge and experience, having held entrepreneurial, consultancy, advisory, and non-executive directorships roles across the globe. He has an extensive background in investment banking, corporate finance, growth strategy, funding (idea-IPO), value creation/development and scaling innovation businesses.
Paul has worked in investment banking in New York, co-founded a significant biotech business in the UK, founded a UK accelerator programme for impact ventures and spent the six years prior to BDO as COO and CFO of a world-leading techbio / digital therapeutics company in Cambridge, UK.
Pitch Competition Sponsors
Award Co-Sponsors
