PETS 2 PLACES CROWNED WINNER OF TC GROUP’S START-UP PITCH CHALLENGE AT MK TECH WEEK

October 20, 2026 5 min read

Pets 2 Places, founded by Claire Harris, has been crowned the overall winner of TC Group’s Next Big Thing: Start-Up Pitch Challenge, following a live final showcasing ambitious founders and innovators as part of Milton Keynes Tech Week 2026.

Eight businesses were each given five minutes to pitch their ideas to a panel of experienced entrepreneurs, investors, innovation specialists and business leaders at x+why, Unity Place, on Friday 16 October.

Following the pitches and deliberation by the judging panel, Pets 2 Places was named overall winner, with Novus, represented by Farid Umar and Aliyu Aliyu, taking the runner-up position and Synthaveil, represented by Nonna Alomaja, receiving Highly Commended recognition.

The competition was created by TC Group to uncover exciting start-ups, entrepreneurs and innovators while giving founders access to the expertise, connections and practical support that can help turn ambitious ideas into growing businesses.

Overall winner: Pets 2 Places – Claire Harris

Founded by Claire Harris, Pets 2 Places is building a specialist pet travel safety business focused on developing safer products informed by engineering, testing and more than 12 years of real-world pet transport experience.

Claire said: “I’ve seen first-hand where existing pet travel products and safety guidance can fall short. My ambition is to build a scalable pet travel safety brand, combining product development with education and behaviour change to help make safer pet travel the norm.”

Pets 2 Places’ pitch also set out a route to market spanning direct-to-consumer sales, social commerce, pet professionals, retail partners and future international growth.

As overall winner, Claire will receive her choice of a headline support package focused either on product development and commercialisation through Inond® and Hooper Quinn, or founder growth and investment mentoring with angel investor Jeremy Hindle.

Both packages also include three additional hours of personalised mentoring and business growth support from Barclays Eagle Labs and one year’s complimentary R&D Tax Credit advice, preparation and submission support from TC Group, creating a total prize package worth up to £12,500.

Runner-up: Novus – Farid Umar, Aliyu Aliyu & Ahmed Kere-Ahmed

Runner-up Novus is a UK-based technology business seeking to make new-build property transactions more transparent.

Its platform creates one structured record for each property, bringing together information such as title records, payment status, milestones and handover documents. Buyers, developers, lawyers, lenders and contractors can each be given relevant access, while its AI functionality answers questions from verified documents and shows the source behind each answer.

Farid said: “We have a live pilot with a property developer in Abuja and we’re now exploring the UK new-build market, including growth areas such as Milton Keynes. Our longer-term ambition is to build a global record for new-build property sales.”

Novus will receive the alternative headline prize package, alongside the additional support provided by Barclays Eagle Labs and TC Group.

Highly Commended: Synthaveil – Nonna Alomaja

Synthaveil, represented by Nonna Alomaja, received the judges’ Highly Commended recognition for its approach to helping organisations use AI while reducing the amount of real personal information shared with external technology providers.

Synthaveil replaces identifiable information, such as people’s names, with realistic stand-ins before information is passed to an AI tool or external vendor. The business is developing products designed to apply its approach across documents and spreadsheets, AI prompts, automations, vendor data feeds and other software products. Its proposition seeks to address the challenge faced by organisations that want to realise the productivity benefits of AI while maintaining greater control over sensitive information.

Spotlighting Milton Keynes innovation

The final brought TC Group’s inaugural Start-Up Pitch Challenge to a close as part of the finale programme for Milton Keynes Tech Week 2026, highlighting the diversity of innovation across the region. The finalists represented sectors including AI, property technology, robotics, cybersecurity, fintech, marketing technology, social impact, pet safety and consumer technology, demonstrating the depth of entrepreneurial talent emerging from Milton Keynes and the wider South Midlands.

The judging panel offered expertise across investment, entrepreneurship, engineering, innovation funding and business growth, comprising:

Owen Moran, Ecosystem Manager – Barclays Eagle Labs
Stephen Henson, Associate Director, Client Services – TC Group
Benn Klewpatinond, Founder and Innovation & Product Realisation Partner – Inond®
Jeremy Hindle, angel investor, tech founder and Y Combinator alumnus
Greg Edwards, Founder of Hooper Quinn and innovation specialist supporting advanced engineering and technology businesses

Felix Medd, Director – Head of R&D at TC Group, who hosted the challenge, commented: “We received an incredible number of applications, so whittling them down to just eight finalists was our first challenge. Then, on the night, choosing our winners was no easy task. The quality and variety of the ideas presented made for an exciting final, but Claire’s experience, ambition and determination to tackle a genuine problem really stood out. Huge congratulations to Pets 2 Places, Novus and Synthaveil, and to every business that stepped up and pitched.”

Stephen Henson, Associate Director at TC Group and a member of the judging panel, added: “I was really impressed by the superb mix of applicants. It really highlighted the diversity of talent we have here in Milton Keynes, which has been celebrated throughout the week.

“The winners’ ideas resonated with me on a variety of levels, from the concepts themselves and their market opportunities to the regulatory considerations underpinning them and, of course, the quality of the pitches.

“A big thank you also goes to Protospace CIC and the organisers of MK Tech Week 2026 for shining such a huge spotlight on Milton Keynes and its incredible tech community, and for giving us the opportunity to host the ‘Next Big Thing’ and close out a truly memorable week.”

Greg Edwards, Founder of Hooper Quinn, also on the judging panel, said: “The atmosphere was genuinely one of the friendliest I’ve experienced, with a real sense of support for the businesses pitching and some great new connections made. It was a pleasure to be part of the evening.”

Owen Moran, Ecosystem Manager at Barclays Eagle Labs noted: “There are some brilliant ideas across the area that, without events like this, we might never hear about. It’s a great way of supporting the local business community and giving those ideas the opportunity to be seen.”

TC Group’s event reflected the wider ambition seen throughout MK Tech Week to cement Milton Keynes’ role within the Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor, connecting promising founders with regional expertise and support that can continue well beyond the pitch evening.