Four women-led firms shortlisted in Chamber pitch competition final
A biotech company developing an inhaler designed to reverse the lung damage behind asthma and a firm using nature to strip pollutants from wastewater are among four businesses hoping to win this year’s Women Entrepreneurs Pitch Competition.
Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC) has revealed the finalists for the fourth edition of the contest, which is run in partnership with NatWest.
Daphne Water Solutions, Fibraxis, Oprising and Statement – all based in Birmingham – will pitch live to a live judging panel on Wednesday 11 November, at a Birmingham city centre venue.
One of the businesses will be named as this year’s ‘One to Watch’.
Led by founder and chief executive Luisa Orsini, Daphne Water Solutions has patented a nature-based technology that removes “emerging contaminants” – such as pharmaceuticals, pesticides and microplastics – from treated wastewater.
Conventional treatment works were not designed to remove these pollutants. The firm's system acts as a final polishing step, using no operational energy and no chemicals, and a peer-reviewed study found it has a 98 per cent lower carbon footprint than conventional advanced treatment.
Founded in 2021, the business has carried out paid demonstrations with Severn Trent Water, the National Trust and Umgeni Water in South Africa, and was a winner of Ofwat's Water Discovery Challenge this year.
It holds patents in the UK, USA, South Africa and Hong Kong, and has a strategic partnership with contractor ATG Group.
Fibraxis is an Aston University spinout with an all-female executive team, developing an inhaled therapy designed to halt – and potentially reverse – the scarring and thickening of the airway wall that makes asthma harder to control.
Asthma affects around 260 million people worldwide, but existing inhalers manage symptoms and flare-ups rather than the underlying damage.
Chief executive Dr Rebecca Bignold, who has lived with asthma since childhood, conceived the idea during her PhD at Aston and co-founded the business in 2024 with senior lecturer Dr Jill Johnson, a specialist in lung fibrosis.
The company has completed pre-clinical proof-of-concept work, secured patents in the US and Japan and raised £330,000 in pre-seed funding.
Oprising has developed a software platform to help managed service providers (MSPs) – the firms that run IT systems for other businesses – improve service quality, keep customers and cut operational risk.
Founder Michelle Coombs has more than 25 years' experience in the sector, including as an MSP service manager overseeing 24/7 operations, teams of up to 70 staff and more than 10,000 support tickets a month.
Her platform, launched in 2025, is built around a 381-point maturity assessment and a library of more than 1,300 improvement actions, helping firms turn ideas and feedback into completed changes rather than leaving them stuck in spreadsheets.
Oprising was one of 19 software vendors worldwide selected for the ConnectWise PitchIT accelerator and has been shortlisted in the Channel National Awards and National Women in Tech Awards.
Founded by qualified accountant Sonu Bubna, Statement is building what it describes as a “financial operating system” that automates how businesses run their finances.
The platform is aimed at start-ups and SMEs whose owners are often expected to manage cash flow, reconciliations and payments without any finance training – pulling together data from spreadsheets, accounting software and bank accounts so founders can answer questions such as whether they can afford to hire.
Ms Bubna began her career in financial advisory at KPMG before co-founding browser extension WhatRuns, used by more than 500,000 people worldwide, and savings platform Shopper.com.
She set up Statement with co-founder Manoj Krishnapillai, who has been part of two successful fintech exits.
The finalists will be judged by Katherine Hill of Mercia Ventures, Ayesha Kotecha of RandalSun Capital, Craig McVoy of Turnkey and Nigel Hall of The Digital Consigliere.
Henrietta Brealey, chief executive of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, said: “This year's finalists show the extraordinary breadth of innovation coming from women-led businesses in our region – from tackling one of the world's most common chronic diseases to cleaning up our water supply and taking the pain out of running a business.
“This competition is about putting them in front of the people with experience in growing and investing in successful businesses, and I’d encourage anyone with an interest in backing ambitious women-led firms to come along and hear them make their case.”
Book your place at the Women Entrepreneurs Pitch Competition final.
Pictured: Last year's winner Frances Williams of The Calmness Crew (centre) with judges and sponsors
