Member Article

Student startup turning chicken feathers into insulation snags £10k pitching prize

A startup which transforms tonnes of waste chicken feathers into insulation material has been named the best new UK business started by students at a prestigious pitching competition.

Aeropowder, which was founded by former Imperial College students Elena Dieckmann and Ryan Robinson, snagged the top award at the annual Varsity Pitch competition and will now receive £10,000 to help fund their business.

The startup fended off competition from food app TakeMeOut, smoothie companie Bui Smoothies along with a host of other student founded companies.

The firm’s innovative technology takes waste poultry feathers and transforms them into sustainable and biodegradable usable materials, such as insulation blocks and other materials.

Aeropowder co-founder, Ryan Robinson said: “Winning the NACUE Varsity Pitch Competition is great because it shows that other people take our message about sustainability and reusing waste so seriously. There’s a lot of hard work left to do, but we are feeling proud to have achieved this win.

“We found the mentorship element of the Varsity Pitch process to be extremely valuable and the semi-finals were also really useful. We got a lot of important feedback that we took with us in our final pitch. Even that one day is going to help our business grow in the future.”

Organised by the National Association of College and University Entrepreneurs (NACUE) and sponsored by Tata Limited, the competition is now in its seventh year and aims to celebrate the best business formed by students or recent graduates in the UK.

Holly Knower, Chief Executive Officer at NACUE said: “The finalists all had very good business ideas and the competition on the day was very tough. It was a difficult decision for the judges to make but they certainly picked a very worthy winner.

“The idea behind Aeropowder proves that we have some of the brightest business brains in the world which bodes well for the future.

“Their concept is innovative, sustainable and creates a useable end product which we could all be using in business or in our homes in years to come.”