A total of 13 student entrepreneurs have triumphed at this year's Cardiff University Student Start-Up and Freelance Awards.
The competition featured 17 new business ventures from Cardiff students, who pitched their ideas in a Dragon's Den-style showdown. Winners from each category received a share of a £22,000 prize fund to continue the growth of their businesses, along with continued mentorship and guidance from the university's Enterprise and Start-up Team.
The students competed across three categories – the Outstanding Founder Award sponsored by Santander Universities, the Innovative Developer Award and the Inspiring Idea Award – both funded by Medr's Research Wales Innovation Fund.
Outstanding Founder Award
There were three Outstanding Founder Grand Prize winners this year, each winning £5,000 towards developing their businesses.
Zara Siddique (PhD Computer Science, graduating 2026) is the founder of Sprout Academy, an educational adventure game app for five to eight-year-olds, which embeds the UK National Curriculum into play. It aims to tackle a problem many parents recognise – educational apps often don't excite children, while the apps children love are rarely educational.
Zara said:
“I loved having the opportunity to share what I've built so far, and it means a lot to have the support of the judges and the Cardiff University Enterprise team. Winning was beyond my wildest dreams. I'm hoping to use the money to fund the marketing and digital costs for our imminent launch and take the next step on our journey to transform children's education.”
Sam Fitch (1st Year Computer Science) is the founder of schoolbored.ai, an all-in-one student life platform that replaces the dozen disconnected tools students juggle daily. Designed to sync with Canvas, Moodle, and Blackboard to auto-import courses, deadlines, and grades, schoolboard.ai then layers on notes, calendars, budgeting, and a context-aware AI agent that knows your degree inside out.
Sam said:
“schoolbored.ai aims to empower students with AI rather than let it do work for them. The prize money is going straight into renewable AI infrastructure and a beta launch at Cardiff this September, as well as a chance to show this to Y Combinator in San Francisco soon. Cardiff University's Enterprise team and the Start-Up Awards gave me the structure and the push to take this from an idea to a real business, I'm really grateful for that support.”
Completing the trio of Grand Prize winners are Will Nichol (MSc Marketing, graduating 2026) and Lucas Von Mullen (4th Year Computer Science), who together have founded Trifecta Property, a lead capture and qualification system designed for independent estate agencies. The Trifecta Property system operates out of hours to engage potential clients, gather key information, and automatically schedule appointments, reducing missed opportunities. The platform generates recurring revenue while providing agencies with a scalable and cost-effective solution for managing and converting property enquiries.
The team said:
“Trifecta began as a university project, but it's become something we're fully committed to. Our goal is simple – build it into a business we're proud of, work for ourselves, and keep pushing it forward on our own terms.”
Innovative Developer Award
In the Innovative Developer Award, Alexandra Totolici (3rd year Biomedical Sciences) and Isaac Liddall (3rd year Physiotherapy) were awarded the top prize of £3000 for their company SkipIn, a fast-track entry platform for nightlife venues.
SkipIn allows customers to purchase time-slotted passes, granting them access to a dedicated fast-track lane at partner venues. Door staff can scan tickets instantly and update live wait times through the app. The partner venues earn 50% of every pass sold, generating new revenue on their busiest nights.
The team said:
“Winning the Innovative Developer Award is a huge milestone for us and for SkipIn. We're reinventing how people experience nightlife in Cardiff, and this recognition proves there's something really exciting here. The prize goes straight into launching our app on iOS and Android and securing our first venue partners. We couldn't have got here without the incredible support of Cardiff University's Enterprise Team.”
Inspiring Ideas Award
The Inspiring Ideas Award top prize of £1,000 was claimed by Isabella-Rose Neill (1st Year Mechanical Engineering) and Diana Gregory Barrera (BSc Physics, graduated 2025) for their company ThermoDefence, a detachable heat sensor device that alerts angle grinder operators to overheating.
ThermoDefence employs LED display technology as a visual temperature monitor of the tool's blade. With over 5000 tool-related accidents reported each year by the Health and Safety Executive, ThermoDefence aims to improve tool safety.
The team said:
“We're incredibly grateful for the opportunity and support. ThermoDefence is about solving a real safety issue that affects thousands of people, and this recognition gives us the confidence to take it further. We're excited to use the prize funding to produce and test our first working prototype, which is a crucial step in turning our idea into a practical solution, and to continue developing ThermoDefence with the goal of making a meaningful impact on safety across industry.”
Held at sbarc|spark, the awards ceremony concluded three days of student pitches judged by a panel of experts, including Ann Guile – Start Up Manager at Welsh Government, Tom Phillips – Co-Founder of Blackline Academy, and Akmal Hanuk – Founder and Chief Executive of Assadaqaat Community Finance UK. As well as the judges' selections, a live audience vote added an extra dimension of peer recognition and community participation to the evening.
Praising all those who took part, Georgina Moorcroft, Senior Manager of Student Enterprise and Start-Up, said:
“Every year I am amazed by the ideas that come from the students, but this year the students seemed to step it up to another level and make the judges decisions a lot harder.”
Georgina Moorcroft, Senior Manager of Student Enterprise and Start-Up, said:
“I am sure that we will be seeing these students and businesses go on to great things, not only those that won, but all the finalists. I really look forward to seeing where their journeys go and it's an honour that we can be a little piece of their story.”
Last year's runners up in the Outstanding Founders category, Pontiro, led by Class of 2024 graduates Lewis Bowen, Evan Jenkins, and Adam Shannon, have raised over £350,000 in funding to accelerate the next phase of their healthcare AI infrastructure.
Founded to remove a major barrier to healthcare innovation, Pontiro addresses the slow, manual, and compliance‑intensive process of preparing medical imaging data for research and AI. Having processed over 2 million images across NHS Wales, the platform supports secure anonymisation, AI validation, and teaching workflows across multiple health boards. By embedding automated tools directly into hospital systems, Pontiro has improved efficiency while reducing compliance risk.
Rhys Pearce-Palmer, Innovation Operations Manager at Cardiff Innovations, said:
“These annual awards are a great opportunity to connect students with our business innovation communities. Over forty organisations are based on the university campus, boasting phenomenal expertise and networks.
“Bringing students to these spaces and celebrating their creativity and ingenuity is so important. It helps ensure that they graduate from Cardiff as ambassadors for innovation and change-making.”
