London Tech Week 2026 Signature Edition: Maths Angel Wins Canopy Demo Night People's Choice

On Wednesday 10 June 2026, Canopy Community hosted the Signature Edition Demo Night during London Tech Week, in partnership with City Ventures. The room was full of first-time founders, early-stage investors and advisors. The format stayed the same: four short pitches, live audience voting, and one People's Choice winner.

This is the recap, with voting data and what it tells us about how a London audience reacts to early-stage ideas right now.

The Setting: In Partnership with City Ventures

Big thanks to Sarah Worth and the team at City Ventures for partnering with us on this Signature Edition and hosting the room. The venue gave the evening a calm, professional energy that helped founders pitch with confidence.

A special thank you to Sydney Samuels, who opened the night with a Sunday Sessions physical stretching warm-up. It is rare to start a pitch event with movement and breath, but it worked. The room arrived more present and more ready to listen.

We also enjoyed a Fireside Chat with Rita Kastrati, founder of Pioneering People. Rita shared how she built the company and how Canopy Community and City Ventures supported her journey.

There is a beautiful loop here. Rita won People’s Choice at our London Tech Week edition last year. Her prize was a trip to Lisbon to pitch at our Signature Edition during Web Summit week — where she won People’s Choice again. Rita is the first founder in Canopy history to hold the crown at both Signature Editions. A reminder that one good pitch can open the next door.

The Four Demos

Four founders pitched to a live audience that voted on four dimensions, each scored from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree): I get it, I’d use it, I’d invest in it, I’d recommend it to a friend.

Maths Angel — Lexie Li. An AI maths tutor for students aged 10 to 16, with a 5-second answer and a 5-minute learning loop, targeting the £2bn UK private tuition market. Scores: Get 3.9, Use 2.8, Invest 2.5, Recommend 3.1.

Aeli Health — Winnie Akadjo. An intelligence layer for the AI conversations people already have about their mental health, surfacing patterns without replacing clinicians. Raising £250k pre-seed. Scores: Get 2.6, Use 2.1, Invest 1.9, Recommend 2.2.

Phase Space — Zillah Watson and Katie Grayson. A clinically grounded VR programme that helps secondary school students regulate anxiety in 7 minutes. Live in every secondary school in Sutton, raising £300k. Scores: Get 3.2, Use 2.6, Invest 2.7, Recommend 2.9.

Canopy Capital — Rachel Sestini. A community-powered SEIS fund that replaces the friends and family round for first-time founders, with a £2,000 minimum LP investment and a dedicated NED for every portfolio company. Scores: Get 3.5, Use 3.2, Invest 3.1, Recommend 3.3.

What the Voting Tells Us

For first-time founders and early-stage investors, the voting is more interesting than the ranking.

Clarity wins attention. Maths Angel scored the highest “I get it” of the night at 3.9. A clear problem, a clear user, a clear product. That clarity is what carried Lexie to the top spot.

“I’d use it” is the hardest score. Across all four pitches it was consistently the lowest number, because most of the audience are not the end user. Founders, do not panic when this score is low — look at the gap between “I get it” and “I’d invest in it” instead.

Investability follows execution. Canopy Capital and Phase Space scored well on “I’d invest in it” because they showed traction, a credible team and a clear use of funds. That combination matters more than slide design.

Healthtech needs more time. Aeli is solving a real problem, but the audience needed longer to absorb the clinical model. A common pattern for deep-tech and healthtech founders: the idea is strong, the explanation needs more repetition.

The overall Demo Night NPS came in at 9.2 out of 10, with the room describing it as “well worth attending,” “really open and friendly,” and the “favourite night of the month.”

People’s Choice Winner: Lexie Li, Maths Angel

Congratulations to Lexie Li and Maths Angel — your June 2026 London People’s Choice winner. Lexie pitched with clarity, a sharp product demo on maths-angel.com, and a clear mission: to be the angel for every student in maths.

Winning People’s Choice is more than a trophy. It is a signal from the community that the idea is ready for the next step, and it moves the founder straight into the cross hairs of investors who look to the signalling of demo night as the trigger to pay closer attention to an idea.

A huge thank you to Winnie, Zillah, Katie and Rachel for putting your work in front of the room. Pitching at this stage takes courage, and every founder in the room learned from this.

Bring Your Own Idea to Demo Night

Canopy Demo Night is for founders at the idea-to-MVP stage, and for early-stage investors who want community-validated deal flow before anyone else.

If you would like to bring your own idea to Demo Night, get in touch — and sign up to come along at lu.ma/canopy. Whether you are pitching, investing, advising or just curious, you will be very welcome.

See you at the next one. #FollowYourDreams