Dr Liz Zijing Li of Mimicrete.

Pitch contest

20 December 2021

The article at a glance

Two ventures associated with the Entrepreneurship Centre at Cambridge Judge Business School get third prize, semifinals at the Global Pitch Competition in Shenzhen, China.

Ventures associated with the Entrepreneurship Centre at Cambridge Judge Business School get third prize, semifinals at the Global Pitch Competition in Shenzhen, China.

Mimicrete, an advanced materials science venture that is developing novel self-healing concrete, was awarded third prize in the Peking HSBC Business School-Cambridge Judge Business School Global Pitch Competition. The competition finals were held on 12 November in Shenzhen, China. 

Dr Liz Zijing Li of Mimicrete participated in EnterpriseTECH in 2020 and was an EnterpriseTECH STAR, a programme for entrepreneurs that accepts 20 people a year for lectures, workshops and monitoring sessions to work on early-stage business ideas. 

She said: “It was such an honour to be able to attend the PHBS-CJBS Global Pitch Competition at Peking University HSBC Business School. I’m proud that Mimicrete reached the final out of 144 ventures pitching and won third prize. It was a privilege to hear insights from some of the greatest minds and to share the venture development journey with so many game-changing companies from around the world.”

Another venture, Charco Neurotech, which is currently on the Accelerate Cambridge programme at the Entrepreneurship Centre, advanced to the semifinals in the competition. Charco Neurotech, which has developed a stimulation device for people with the neurodegenerative disorder Parkinson’s, recently announced a $10m seed investment round co-led by Amadeus Capital Partners and Parkwalk Advisors. 

The pitch competition jointly organised by Peking University HSBC Business School (PHBS) and Cambridge Judge involved startup firms from around the world in sectors that included health care technology, advanced manufacturing and agricultural tech. Ten startups made it to the final round. 

Among presentations made in person or via video at the event were remarks by Wayne Chen, Director of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at PHBS, and by Professor Stelios Kavadias, Vice Dean and Director of the Entrepreneurship Centre at Cambridge Judge.