The results of VC26, the Datumra Venture Competition, are in. Ten ventures took home a category award, and 26 more made the final.
ClimbUK is proud to partner with Datumra on VC26. Every winner takes two VIP two-day tickets to Climb27, the festival for business growth, on 30 June and 1 July 2027. Every finalist takes two standard two-day tickets. That puts each of them in the room with investors looking for real deal flow, advisers, partners and fellow founders who are one step ahead.
Here is who won, and what they are building.
The New Idea
The #LastMinList by Textured
A live marketplace for same-day and next-day afro and textured hair appointments. It fills the gaps that cancellations leave in stylists' diaries, and works with the booking software they already use.
Solo Builders
JustAskWillow.com
A free scam and fraud checker. Paste in a website, an email, a phone number or a message, and Willow explains any red flags in plain English and points you to help.
Lean Teams
Potentially Golf
A golf app with AI coaching that links your round stats, and how you felt on the course, to a practice plan built to lower your scores. Made in Manchester.
Future Giants
Serenatis Bio
Developing drugs designed specifically to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) by targeting its neurobiology, with three candidates in its pipeline.
Capital Ready
NanoStrip
Low-energy technology that recovers ammonia from high-strength waste and turns it into fertiliser, starting with anaerobic digesters.
Purpose Ventures
Grassroot
A learning platform that builds a whole course from a simple prompt or from your own class notes.
Barrier Breakers
Freeater
One dietary profile that helps people with food allergies, coeliac disease and other dietary needs eat out and shop with confidence.
The Wildcard
CashBashes
A raffle and fundraising platform for nonprofits that tracks every ticket, from the sale to the audit trail.
Founder's Choice
Suzanne Pearson, Kindness in Motion
Suzanne founded Kindness in Motion, a theatre-led social venture changing how schools respond after bullying. She created The Babushka Project and wrote an autobiographical play.
Standout Award
Far From Travel
Work-for-accommodation travel: hosts offer a private room, and travellers give a few hours of help a day in return.
The VC26 finalists
Every finalist takes two standard two-day tickets to Climb27.
The New Idea: Smileshot, ClearIVF and Orete
Solo Builders: Audibound, Amphi Botanicals and Ontor
Lean Teams: Kantis, AI Match and GajaCash
Future Giants: Provvy, SuLe and Homemade Meals
Capital Ready: D2Type Health and WiseMind AI
Purpose Ventures: InTempo, Heelz and Toez, and We Are Together
Barrier Breakers: The Space Between Global, The Speech Heroes and Tutoria
The Wildcard: Bootskins, Voicari and The Promise Method
Founder's Choice: Lewis Brand (IES AV Community Pub, The Lock), Scott Dwyer (My Family Heritage Vault) and Musa Konneh
See them at Climb27
Congratulations again to every winner and finalist, and thank you to Datumra for a brilliant competition. We cannot wait to welcome them to Climb27.
See every VC26 winner and finalist on the Datumra website
Want to be in the room with them? Get your Climb27 ticket.