Cambridgeshire Business Awards - a night at Kings College, Cambridge

It was the third Cambridge Independent Business Awards, and one category was especially close to our hearts at Mantle Space: Innovation of the Year, which we were proud to sponsor.
The night began with a reminder of how far a Cambridge idea can travel. Martina King received the Lifetime Achievement Award for helping take Featurespace from a local start-up to global success, acquired by Visa for a reported $1 billion. Every innovator in the room knew that a business idea starts somewhere small.

A problem worth solving

Some of the hardest things to decarbonise are the things that keep the world moving. Planes, ships and heavy vehicles run on dense liquid fuel, and cleaner options that can scale, are hard to find.

HutanBio went looking for an answer in the sea. The team developed Sphaerica, an entirely new genus of marine microalgae. It is microscopic, but it has an outsized talent: it produces oil at 25 times the rate of previously studied algae, and around 10 times the rate of conventional oil crops.
That oil can be turned into sustainable aviation fuel, renewable marine fuel and low-carbon diesel. HutanBio's first commercial site is due to be completed in 2029.

When HutanBio was named the winner, it felt like the perfect answer to the question this category asks: what new idea, born here, could change things out there?

A runner-up with a clean-water story

Alchemie Technology was Highly Commended, and it wasn't hard to see why. The company has taken precision engineering from Cambridge all the way to textile manufacturing hubs in Taiwan and Portugal.
Textile production is thirsty and polluting work. Alchemie's technology cuts water use and greenhouse gas emissions, and stops industrial water pollution at the source. Later that same evening, it also picked up The Green Award. Quite a night.

Why this matters to us

We sponsor innovation because we believe the next big idea is often hiding in a lab, a spare room or a small team with a stubborn question. Nights like this let us shine a light on the people brave enough to chase it.

Congratulations to HutanBio, to Alchemie Technology, and to every business that made the shortlist, the evening was extremely enjoyable and the team were pleased to attend the awards evening and represent Mantle Space.

Could it be you next year? Entries for the 2027 awards open in June.

If you're building something new, we'd love to hear your story. Maybe next September, it'll be your name read out in the Great Hall.

To see all of the finalists of the Cambridge Independent Business Awards 2026 revealed, Cambridge Independent, 24 September 2026 https://www.cambridgeindepende...

Photo Credit: Keith Heppell.