The Dragon’s Den-style Runway Awards – a highlight of the University’s annual Innovation Showcase – brings together aspiring young founders from across the student community, each aiming to turn early-stage concepts into viable business ventures with the backing of experienced professionals.
Participants delivered pitches outlining their business models, market potential, and growth strategies, before facing questions from the specialist judges, in a bid to secure a share of £70,000 in funding.
The judging panel of Henry Majed, Graeme Bell, and Laura Gemmell - all alumni founders – assessed each proposal on innovation, feasibility and scalability, rewarding the start-ups with financial support to help them develop their ideas into the real world.
The successful start-ups which featured in the 2026 Runway Awards were:
Vulkos – secured £15,000 from the judging panel
Vulkos democratises semiconductor design skills for new microelectronic engineers, providing a better bridge to employment. As the student founders outlined in their pitch: “Our open-source toolchain and centre for chip design lets users apply learning to a real design simulation. A freemium incubator for engineering talent and recruitment and training fees to our small or medium size (SME)/industry partners.”
Novi – secured £16,000 from the judging panel
According to the student founders behind Novi: “3.3 FTE (Full-Time Equivalent) of time is lost by schools enforcing phone rules. Current solutions barely dent that while charging £20k+ upfront. Novi uses Near Field Communication (NFC) technology to create easy to enforce and install distraction-free phone environments with a simple SaaS (software as a service) subscription, making students more present and productive without the upfront cost adoption barrier.
BioBuds – secured £5,000 from the judging panel
In their pitch, the students said: “BioBuds is the world’s first affordable, 100% bio-based, disposable earplugs. Multiple high-noise industries rely on disposable earplugs with no sustainable alternative. BioBuds will be sold business-to-business (B2B), giving eco-conscious business a like-for-like swap which they can report as a reduction in their Scope 3 emissions.”
Vero Financial – secured £16,000 from the judging panel
Vero is a financial wellness platform helping Gen Z build better money habits through personalised gamification. Users track spending, complete tailored challenges, and earn rewards, with revenue generated via subscriptions and brand partnerships.
By Hariish Choreography – secured £1,000 from the judging panel
By Hariish Choreography provides authentic, progressive Bollywood and Kuthu dance training to underserved South Asian families’ children. Delivered by a network of university student instructors, monthly classes, private coaching and choreography, the start-up generates income locally with expansion to 10 cities already funded.
Toofu – secured £10,000 from the judging panel
Toofu delivers fresh, plant-based functional protein drinks for busy professionals and health-conscious consumers through smart vending machines in high-traffic locations. Their pitch stated: “Our business-to-business (B2B) partnership model enables convenient, freshly blended soy-based drinks combining nutrition and taste in a seamless grab-and-go experience.”
Naru Mathematics – secured £6,000 from the judging panel
The students explained in their pitch: “With more than 50,000 installs, Naru Mathematics is evolving from question bank /worked solutions into an AI-powered coach, instantly marking handwritten solutions with diagnosis of weak areas and unlimited personalised questions. Its scalable SaaS (software as a service) subscription deepens student learning with less teacher workload.”
Three of the winners, Novi, Vero and Vulkos, are pitching in the UK finals of the Hult Prize Competition for student social ventures in London.
Mark Neild, Associate Professor in Radical Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Bristol and Programme Director for Runway, said: “I often say I have the best job in the world working with such energetic, curious and capable young people. None of the pitches were simply applied geekery, each in their individual way sets out to improve the lives of people who want change, but without our innovators’ help will struggle to achieve it. Our thanks also to the judging panel.”
Business Founder James Hewitt, CEO of MindsetOS, said: “I could not believe the standard of both the pitches and the showcase. It’s got me so fired up for MindsetOS and also gave me a glimpse into the future of meaningful education for a modern workforce.”
Now in its fifth year, the Runway Accelerator programme has awarded around £470,000 in grants, with dozens of winners going on to raise more than £35million across the UK and Silicon Valley with a Return on Investment (ROI) more than 70 times over.