This year's Momentum Incubator participants at the pitching and awards day, pictured alongside members of the Sussex Innovation and Careers and Entrepreneurship teams
A food waste logistics company, a sustainability-focused communications agency and an events platform for jazz afficionados were among the student-led ventures celebrated at the end of this year’s Momentum Incubator programme, in a pitch day and awards ceremony held at Sussex Innovation.
What is the Momentum Incubator?
The Momentum Incubator is a four-phrase programme, open to Sussex students and recent graduates, designed to equip student entrepreneurs with the skills, resources, and funding to launch their ventures.
Each year, up to 30 participants – including Startup Sussex competition finalists - are awarded places on the programme, which includes workshops, one-to-one mentoring, membership with Sussex Innovation and grant funding to move their business ideas forward.
It is run by Sussex Innovation on behalf of the University of Sussex, backed by Santander Universities and a generous private donation from a Sussex alumnus.
The winning ventures
The pitch day marked the end of a year of intensive development for the 2025-26 cohort.The finalists shared their journey with a panel of judges: Emily Huns, Head of Careers and Entrepreneurship at the University of Sussex; Nigel Lambe, CEO of Sussex Innovation; Holly Price, Education and Social Impact Team Leader at Santander UK; and Muhammad Abbas, Founder and Director of Trademark Brothers.
In total, cash prizes totalling £24,000 were shared between seven start-ups founded by students and recent graduates from the University of Sussex.
Three first-place prizes of £5,000 each were awarded to:
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Felix Craven (International Relations BA) for his platform Jazzcat, which enables users to find and purchase tickets for jazz gigs, festivalsand venues, as well as connecting with other musicians and fans near them.
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Emma Hynes (Sustainable Development MSc) and co-founder Beth Nayar for their agency Borrowed Earth Collective,a circular economy and communications consultancy that supports organisations to become more sustainable, and tell their story without greenwashing.
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Husain Alogaily (International Development and Economics BA) for his company Compost It, which recycles food waste from businesses, redirecting it from landfill towards local composters and anaerobic digestion facilities.Compost It received an additional £1.5k prize as one of the enterprises delivering positive social impact.
Four additional ventures also received awards:
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Gladys Mwamba (Environment, Development & Policy MSc) received a £1.5k runner-up prize and £1.5k social impact prize for Plastic For Change, formalising the plastic recycling value chain at the Zambia-DRC border.
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Jacqueline Carhoun (Psychology PhD) received a £1.5k runner-up prize for SEEN,a phone application to support families impacted by opioid addiction.
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PJ Morrill (Manufacturing Engineering MEng) received a £1.5k runner-up prize for UnEarth,a tool for consumers to see the environmental impacts of products via barcode scan.
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Jessica Mahendran (Artificial Intelligence MSc) received a £1.5k social impact prize for TEAch,an app connecting students in rural Sri Lanka with educational resources and tutoring.
Emily Huns congratulated all the winning businesses, adding that “it’s great to see so many ideas in this year’s incubator that support the University’s mission of addressing urgent global challenges in environmental sustainability, digital and data futures, and human flourishing.”
Nigel Lambe noted the extremely high standard across the finalists’ pitches, explaining that the judges “picked the winners based on where we felt that the money would have the greatest direct impact on helping them to grow. For those who didn’t win a prize, don’t let it be the end of your journey. Entrepreneurs always keep going, and don’t wait for someone else to give them permission.”
About Entrepreneurship at Sussex
Got a business or social impact idea you’d like to bring to life? Or just want to explore your entrepreneurial side? We can help you to build your mindset and learn new skills that will help you through the early stages of developing an idea, all the way through to launching and scaling.
The University’s 2026-27 support and funding programme will launch in Autumn 2026 and includes access to one-to-ones, workshops and competitions. Learn more about Entrepreneurship at Sussex.'