Untap Health
Untap Health provides a pathogen monitoring service to reduce transmission of infectious diseases within your community.
Illnesses are only detected when symptoms emerge, but infectious diseases can be contagious up to a week before symptoms, or never show symptoms at all. Other illnesses progress to later stages before they can be detected. In 2019, Influenza and Norovirus cost the UK and US economies £45 billion – even before COVID-19.
Untap Health has developed multiple patent-pending technologies that empower communities to detect viral and bacterial infections before they are infectious. Wastewater from the building is automatically collected throughout the day and samples are analysed on-site, using state-of-the-art PCR techniques that can provide an early indication of viral or bacterial disease outbreaks in the community. This data is provided on the same day, and allows the implementation of rapid response measures.
Founders
Claire Trant
CEO
Claire holds a PhD in AeroEngine development, and has over eight years of experience in wastewater research and innovation. She also has a degree in Physics and a Master’s in Petroleum GeoPhysics from Imperial College London. She is a recognised leader and innovator in her field, having been nominated as Woman in Innovation in 2023 by UKRI and High Growth Woman Founder by UKBAA.
Jay Bullen
CTO
Jay completed a MSci in Chemistry at UCL, followed by a PhD at Imperial College during which he specialized in water quality and the detection and removal of contaminants. During his research engineering placement in Mexico, Jay developed a low-cost open-source Arduino-based method for electrochemical detection of carcinogenic arsenic, now used by NGO Caminos de Agua. During his PhD, Jay was seconded to the civil service where he led a research project on innovating real-time water quality monitoring, off the back of pre-pandemic interest in wastewater surveillance.
Milestones
Founded at Entrepreneur First
Seed ($1.5 million) led by 7Percent Ventures
Won best technology innovation at Europe's largest pan-european pitching competition
Selected by TechCrunch Disrupt as Global Top 20 Startup
Grant (£220,000) from UKRI Biomedical Catalyst
£180,000 in revenue to date