SETsquared Picks 21 Deep Tech Startups to Pitch Investors at Investment Futures 2026 in London

Twenty one deep tech startups and university spinouts from the South and South West of England will pitch to investors in London later this month, after being selected for SETsquared's Investment Futures 2026 event. The showcase, set for Tuesday 24 November at CodeNode in central London, brings together founders who are actively raising money and investors looking for early stage science and technology companies. Each of the selected firms is seeking between £250,000 and £5 million, and the event is designed to put research led businesses in front of the people who can fund their next stage of growth.

SETsquared, a university business incubator, announced the selection on 3 November. The 21 companies were chosen from 57 applicants through a competitive process that involved external investors. The sectors on show reflect the areas the UK Government has identified as priorities for growth over the next decade, and the day will combine pitching with structured networking, one to one meetings, a keynote address and breakout sessions on where investment opportunities are likely to appear.

What Investment Futures 2026 is for

Investment Futures is SETsquared's pitch event for deep tech ventures that have come through its network. Deep tech is a broad label, but in this case it covers companies built around substantial scientific or engineering advances rather than simple software products. That can mean new diagnostic tools, new materials, new energy systems or new approaches to security, all of which tend to need more time and more capital before they reach customers at scale.

The event runs from 12pm to 6.30pm at CodeNode, 10 South Place, London. Registration is open to venture capitalists, angel investors, fund managers, investment managers, government funders and corporate investors, along with corporate innovation and technology teams. The format is deliberately practical. Founders pitch, investors ask questions, and both sides can then meet in structured networking sessions and one to one meetings to explore investment and commercial partnerships. The day closes with a drinks reception and the SETsquared Investment Futures Awards.

For founders, the value of an event like this is timing. SETsquared director Rosie Bennett said every company pitching has been through a rigorous selection process and is actively raising, so investors are meeting founders at the point where capital can make a real difference. That distinction matters. A pitch event full of companies that are not yet ready to take money can waste everyone's time. A room full of companies that are raising now, and have already been screened by investors, gives both sides a clearer reason to talk.

The sectors in the spotlight

The 21 selected companies work across advanced manufacturing, clean energy, defence, life sciences and digital technologies. Those sectors line up with the UK Government's Industrial Strategy, which names them as key areas of growth over the next decade. The overlap is not accidental. University spinouts often work in exactly these fields because that is where long term research funding has been concentrated, and investors who follow government strategy tend to watch the same areas for future demand.

Advanced manufacturing covers new ways of making things, from precision engineering to smarter production processes. Clean energy covers technologies that cut emissions or make energy systems work better. Defence covers tools that help protect people, systems and infrastructure, including detection and security technology. Life sciences covers health related innovation, from diagnostics to new treatment approaches. Digital technologies covers software and AI led products that sit underneath or alongside those other fields. A single event that spans all five gives investors a wide view of what is coming out of universities in the South and South West, rather than a narrow slice of one market.

Three ventures to watch

Among the ventures named in the announcement, three give a sense of the range on offer. Bristol based Attomarker is a life sciences spinout developing biomarker based diagnostic technology. Its work aims to improve the detection of conditions including Long Covid, Lyme disease and Type 1 diabetes. Diagnostics is a field where accuracy and speed both matter, and where a test that works reliably in real clinics can change how quickly patients get answers. Attomarker's presence on the list shows how university research can move toward products that patients and health systems might one day use every day.

DATAMBIT, an artificial intelligence company, is developing technology to detect and verify synthetic audio and video in real time for defence applications. Synthetic media, including audio and video created or altered with AI tools, has become harder to spot as the tools have improved. For defence and security users, being able to check whether a recording is genuine, and to do so quickly, is becoming a basic need rather than a specialist extra. DATAMBIT's technology has been described as NATO validated, which points to testing against standards used by defence organisations.

Surrey based Sorair Technologies will showcase an autonomous drone security platform. The system is designed to let industrial, commercial and government organisations run automated security and site safety operations using drones. For large sites such as industrial plants, warehouses or infrastructure facilities, drones can cover ground faster than foot patrols and can reach areas that are hard to access. Automation matters here because it can keep watch consistently without requiring a person to be on site at all hours, while still leaving human teams to respond when something needs attention.

These three examples do not cover the full list of 21, but they show the pattern: research heavy products, aimed at real operational problems, with customers in health, defence and industrial settings. That pattern is typical of SETsquared's pipeline and of university spinouts more widely.

Frequently Asked Questions

When and where is Investment Futures 2026?

Investment Futures 2026 takes place on Tuesday 24 November 2026 from 12pm to 6.30pm at CodeNode, 10 South Place, London. The day includes pitches, networking, one to one meetings, a keynote, breakout sessions and the SETsquared Investment Futures Awards.

How many companies were selected and how much are they raising?

Twenty one deep tech startups and spinouts were selected from 57 applicants. Each company is currently seeking investment of between £250,000 and £5 million, and all of them are actively raising at the time of the event.

Which sectors do the selected companies cover?

The selected ventures work across advanced manufacturing, clean energy, defence, life sciences and digital technologies. Named examples include Attomarker in diagnostics, DATAMBIT in synthetic media detection for defence, and Sorair Technologies in autonomous drone security.