Guidance for applicants

In order to be eligible, your company will need to:

• Be focused on areas which have the potential to have a significant impact on health, and where use of data is a core part of the business model (this is what we define as data-driven health). If you are uncertain whether your company qualifies, you can see examples of companies from our previous cohorts on our portfolio page. If you are still unsure, please feel free to reach out to us by email.
• Have two or more team members - preferably full-time, however not required.
• Have a Minimum Viable Product, prototype or proof of concept - we are looking for early-stage indicators demonstrating that your design concept, business proposal, etc. is feasible.
• Be an early-stage company - we are happy to see evidence of initial fundraising success, and accept applications from companies who have raised grant funding and / or pre-seed or seed investment. However, previous equity funding is not required.
• Have a legal entity registered in the UK - this includes England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
• Have a team based in the UK - although the core programme content is run virtually, we run in person networking events in London (including our Demo Day), and strongly recommend that the founding team be living in the UK.

If you are accepted onto the programme, you will be expected to:

• Time commitment
  • Attend the programme induction (in the past, this has included three intensive days of workshops and talks).
  • Participate in the weekly sessions of workshops, talks, and office hours (these are typically conducted over half-days each Wednesday). We expect at least one member of the team to attend each week.
  • Make the most of our in-person networking, Launch, and Demo Day events.
  • Be available for 1:1 mentoring sessions with the KQ Labs team and mentor network. 
• Funding
  • Accept the £40k convertible loan note. Details of the terms (which are standardised across our alumni, and benign for start-ups) will be made available to you shortly ahead of the start of the programme.

Please ensure the pitch deck you submit contains the following information. Please note that:

• If you are missing some of these points we may ask you to resubmit.
• You should upload the deck in one file only. There is a limit of 300 MB. Allowed types are pdf, ppt, pptx.
• The deck should not exceed 12 slides, excluding the cover and end slides.

Topic 1 - The problem you are aiming to solve and the market opportunity: 

• Briefly outline the problem you are aiming to solve
• Describe the size of addressable market: is this a substantial opportunity in terms of numbers of patients and value?

Topic 2 - Your solution and your technology

• Is your solution disease or therapy area agnostic or how does it relate to one specific area?
• What is your technology and how is it innovative? 
• What stage of development is your technology? Do you have a proof of concept or minimum viable product?
• How will you protect it (including intellectual property)?
• What is the roadmap to develop the technology and what is your overall plan? (Include key milestones/value inflection points, and timescales)

Topic 3 - Commercial

• Competitors: List any competitors you have identified, including both direct competitors and also other approaches to solving the same problem. How far advanced are your competitors? How are you differentiated / better?
• Business model: How will you make money? Who are your direct customers? What is your route to scale up and commercialisation?
• Traction: Do you have any revenues? (Revenue is not a requirement, and is not necessarily expected at this stage) What customer engagement and/or traction with corporate partners have you had to date? Please provide any other evidence of interest in your product/service.

Topic 4 - Your team

• What relevant domain experience do each of you have? 
• Why should you be the right people to execute on this opportunity? 
• Do you have awareness of any key gaps in your team expertise and how do you plan to fill them (eg consultants/ advisers etc).
• Do you have experienced advisers?

Topic 5 - Financials

• What investment (equity funding), if any, have you raised so far? 
• Have you obtained any other funding (for example, via grants or prizes)?
• What will you do with the £40k KQ Labs funding? 
• How much additional funding will you need to achieve your key milestones? 
• Please outline revenue projections for the next 3 years

Topic 6 - Exit

• What is the likely exit for your investors?

If possible, please submit a two-minute recording of yourselves explaining what you see as the key aspects of your business. While this is optional, we strongly recommend you do as this will give us additional insight into you and your company.

Please do not submit any promotional material such as animations or voice-over videos.

The video should be provided via a permanent, non-password protected link to YouTube, Vimeo or Dropbox.