King's startup 'Memento' win backing from Silicon Valley VC

Memento, a virtual reality (VR) startup founded by King’s alumni Dr. Michael Truong and Olga Kravchenko, has won backing from InTeahouse, a leading global innovation and investment platform and their Venture Capitalist partner.

Memento lets anyone with a smartphone create and crowdsource VR content that is automatically stitched together using AI. What Instagram did for photo, Memento aim to do for VR. 

Memento pitched against 10 other teams from the King’s20 accelerator to win £1,000 investment from InTeaHouse and support from one of their VC partners.

The King’s20 accelerator provides a unique 12 month programme for 20 high-potential startup teams from across King’s. The ventures pitching were from a broad variety of sectors including AI, VR, MedTech, EdTech and tourism and had just 3 minutes to pitch their venture to an audience in Bush House before answering questions from a panel of judges.

The judges were Grace Wang, Operating Director, London Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Maury Shenk, Managing Director of Lily Innovation and Olly Eyre, Partnerships Manager at InTeahouse.

Second place was awarded to Project Access, a social enterprise matching bright students from disadvantaged backgrounds with mentors to help them reach the best global universities.

 Michael Truong, Co-founder of Memento, said,

 “This backing means a lot to us and gives us confidence in our venture. We’re at an early stage so the money and mentoring will make a big difference to us and help get us off the ground,"

 Olly Eyre, Partnerships Manager, InTeaHouse said,

“I have rarely seen a set of pitches at such a high standard. It was a tough decision, but we saw something really new and exciting in Memento’s product and they are deserving winners of the InTeahouse pitching award.”

Accelerator Manager Ed Halliday said,

“Pitching your venture in just 3 minutes isn’t easy but all the teams did brilliantly. What was most impressive was that we are only 6 weeks into the King’s20 Accelerator, and for many of the startups this was their first public pitch. We’re already starting to see some real standouts. Well done to everyone who pitched, and thank you again to InTeahouse for their support.”

The Entrepreneurship Institute are pleased to be establishing a more long-term partnership with InTeahouse to support King’s20 Accelerator into the future.