{"id":3300,"date":"2026-07-08T17:22:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T17:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/?p=3300"},"modified":"2026-07-08T17:22:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T17:22:30","slug":"kq-labs-opens-applications-for-its-ninth-cohort-to-support-early-stage-health-startups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/kq-labs-opens-applications-for-its-ninth-cohort-to-support-early-stage-health-startups\/","title":{"rendered":"KQ Labs Opens Applications for Its Ninth Cohort to Support Early-Stage Health Startups"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Francis Crick Institute, in partnership with Medicines Discovery Catapult and Cancer<\/a> Research Horizons, has opened applications for the ninth cohort of KQ Labs. This five-month accelerator program is designed to help early-stage companies that use data and technology to develop health solutions, such as AI-assisted drug discovery, digital health tools, and precision medicine<\/a>. The program can support up to ten companies. Since it started in 2018, the 70 companies that have taken part have raised over \u00a3230 million in funding. Medicines Discovery Catapult joined KQ Labs in 2025 to help expand its reach and improve support for startups. The most recent cohort, the eighth, recently presented their progress at a Demo Day on June 30, where two companies secured sponsorship from Cancer Research Horizons and three others successfully raised funds during the program. Oli Rayner, CEO and Co-Founder of Gramics Bio, who was part of the eighth cohort, shared, “KQ Labs is a unique and valuable program for tech-driven health startups in the UK. It connected us with experts, mentors, and valuable resources that helped us grow as a team and company. The mentoring was especially helpful, as we learned from experienced entrepreneurs who provided insights relevant to our stage of development. Some mentors even joined our board, and the relationships we built will continue to benefit us. If you’re building a company at the intersection of technology and healthcare, KQ Labs is highly recommended.” Dr Nicola Heron, Chief Strategy Officer at Medicines Discovery Catapult, added, “The UK has talented people working on advanced technology to treat difficult diseases. KQ Labs supports these innovators by giving them the guidance, connections, and business skills they need to succeed.” Jo Mills, Head of Entrepreneurship and KQ Labs at the Francis Crick Institute, explained, “Over the past eight years, KQ Labs has nurtured some of the most exciting health startups using data and technology. Our partners at Medicines Discovery Catapult and Cancer Research Horizons help us provide mentorship, expertise, and investment opportunities to these companies.” Alessia Errico, Associate Director at Cancer Research Horizons, said, “We are proud to continue working with KQ Labs to support innovators using data and technology to tackle big challenges in cancer care. This program helps founders turn their ideas into real solutions that improve the lives of people affected by cancer.” KQ Labs is now accepting applications for its ninth cohort, offering startups access to workshops, mentoring, investor meetings, and fundraising support to help bring their ideas to life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Francis Crick Institute, in partnership with Medicines Discovery Catapult and Cancer Research Horizons, has opened applications for the ninth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pharmaceutical-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3307,"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3300\/revisions\/3307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allesleypharmacy.co.uk\/pharmacy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}