CDL-Oxford

CDL-Oxford, part of the global network Creative Destruction Lab, has expanded its number of programme streams this year to include Climate and FinTech.

CDL-Oxford launches CDL FinTech, a new stream that will supercharge financial technology ventures in the United Kingdom and beyond, to spur the next stage of the fintech revolution. The stream will support commercially-driven, seed-stage science and tech-based ventures focused on fintech 2.0 areas like embedded finance, financial access and the future of data science and regulation.

Pamoja Capital recently joined an undisclosed round together with Ocean Azul Partners to accelerate Senecio’s ability to bring its core technologies to market. Pamoja Capital was first introduced to Senecio’s founder, Hanan Lepek, by the Creative Destruction Lab programme in Oxford’s Artificial INtelligence stream last year.

Following the success of the first AI stream, Creative Destruction Lab Oxford (CDL-Oxford) embarks on a new journey pursuing technological innovation applied to healthcare. The new stream aims at facilitating and speeding up the commercialisation of technological advancements in the life sciences domain. The areas of interest include diagnostics, medical devices, therapeutics, and AI driven drug discovery.

The customised app will be managed by School staff, and will use a traffic light system, with green telling students when cafés and other breakout spaces are safe to use, amber when discretion should be exercised and red when a room is at capacity. The School’s app has been designed by the team behind Crowdless, which was launched in April to help people avoid crowds and stay safe when returning to shops and restaurants.

Ninety-nine companies were selected from 45 countries. The programme was entirely virtual and brought together over 400 mentors from the CDL network and over 50 MBA students from five universities. Not only did we witness the emergence of a new paradigm for testing (one which is likely to play a key role in the economic recovery of Covid-19), but we also unearthed new lessons for startups and the role they can play in the crisis.