UKTN | The Podcast

Sharon Vosmek, chief executive and managing partner of Astia, discusses why backing female founders isn't just morally right, but also financial prudent, why not all definitions of women-led startups are equal and the danger of 'fomo' in investing. Astia is an inclusive venture capital group that seeks to address the vast and stagnant gap in funding for women-led businesses.

Steve Peralta, co-founder of Unmind, discusses the problem with the majority of corporate mental health programmes, why the world of work so often leads to deteriorating mental health, and how psychology-backed tech platforms can help.     Unmind is workplace wellbeing platform that partners with brands to offer employee mental health support. Peralta co-founded Unmind in 2016 having previously from a corporate wellbeing background alongside former NHS clinical psychologist Dr Nick Taylor. Peralta explains how so many workplace wellbeing policies are reactive, waiting from problems to occur before they even begin to try to help.

David Keene, CEO of Aurrigo, discusses how autonomous driving will progress in the UK, how a chance encounter pivoted his company’s entire market and the journey of turning grant funding into an initial public offering.    Aurrigo is an autonomous driving company that specialises in vehicles for the aviation industry, including self-driving baggage carriers. The Coventry-based company was founded in 1993, initially focused on autonomous passenger vehicles. A call from the head of innovation at International Airlines Group, convinced Keene that the future of Aurrigo’s technology was in supporting aviation. The group listed publicly on London’s AIM market in 2022.

Jing Ouyang, co-founder and chief growth officer of Patchwork Health discusses the political pressure on health services to streamline operations, the difficulty in digitising NHS clinics and leaving a career as a medical doctor to launch a tech startup.    Patchwork Health is a digital platform for clinics to manage day-to-day operations, organise workflows and reduce agency spending. Ouyang spent years as a resident doctor where he saw first hand the manual processes and bureaucracy needlessly complicating matters. He co-founded Patchwork with another former NHS doctor to directly address the problems the founders had faced in their health careers.

Jonathan Berry, Viscount Camrose and former Conservative AI minister, discusses how artificial intelligence policy has changed with the Labour government, why the work it must do is difficult but necessary and why clarity on AI regulation is vital for businesses.      Berry is a hereditary peer in the House of Lords and served as the minister responsible for AI and intellectual property under former prime minister Rishi Sunak. During his time at the tech department, Berry was key in organising the UK's AI Safety Summit in Bletchley Park in 2023.