Welcome to the latest episode of the podcast where we meet the co-founders of the Cambridge Female Founders Network, Xann Schwinn and Clarisse Beurrier.
This weeks Cambridge Tech News: Big Money Moves & Startup Support
The episode kicks off with a look at this week’s key funding rounds and ecosystem updates:
Luminance secures a $75M Series C round, bringing their total to $150M this year.
CGD announces a $32M Series C to scale further.
Cambridge Founders and the King's Entrepreneurship Lab launch a new residential summer incubator program, helping university students and researchers commercialise their innovations.
Spotlight Interview: Female Founders in Cambridge
This week’s guests, Xann (founder of Biiah) and Clarisse (co-founder of Cellcraft), share their journeys as startup leaders and the motivation behind founding the
Cambridge Female Founders Network.
Biiah: Harnessing Music for Health & Wellbeing
Xann is on a mission to revolutionise music and health tech. Biiah’s SaaS platform enables users to measure how music impacts their mental, physical, and social health. Working with community groups, choirs, and large organisations, Biiah’s model helps people engage with music for wellbeing—something increasingly crucial in today's hybrid world.
📢 "Music is an intrinsic part of the human experience… We aim to show its value through hard data." — Xann Schwinn
Cellcraft: A Future Without Factory Farming
Clarisse is tackling one of the biggest environmental challenges—factory farming. Cellcraft offers a B2B model that helps meat processors produce sustainable, lab-grown meat at scale, removing the need for traditional farming.
📢 “Animal agriculture is responsible for more emissions than the entire transport sector combined. We offer an alternative that’s scalable and sustainable.” — Clarisse Beurrier
Challenges & Lessons: Startup Growth & Team Building
Both founders reflect on their biggest hurdles, from navigating a volatile market to hiring and retaining talent.
Xann: “Convincing someone to stay when they’re already checked out will drain your energy and hurt the team.”
Clarisse: “Team culture isn’t automatic—you have to put in the work daily.”
Both: “Hire slow, fire fast. The wrong person can disrupt an entire startup.”
For startup founders, their insights into team dynamics, fundraising struggles, and market timing offer valuable takeaways.
Cambridge Female Founders Network: Bridging the Gap
The Cambridge Female Founders Network was created in response to the lack of genuine support for women entrepreneurs. Instead of generic panels discussing how hard it is to be a woman in tech, the network connects founders with funding, community, and strategic opportunities.
📢 “You’re either helping female founders, or you’re in the way.” — Xann Schwinn
Key initiatives include:
Founder Dinners & Fireside Chats – Creating spaces for female founders to connect.
Funding Programmes – Helping women navigate the notoriously tough fundraising landscape.
Investor & Conference Connections – Placing female founders on panels, in accelerators, and directly in front of investors.
📢 “Women have to pitch 4x more than men to secure funding. We’re changing that by connecting the right investors with the right founders.” — Clarisse Beurrier
How to Get Involved
Whether you’re a female founder looking for support or an investor eager to back groundbreaking startups, the Cambridge Female Founders Network welcomes you. Join the movement: 📌 Sign up here
To listen and subscribe, search for ‘Cambridge Tech Podcast’ on your favourite podcasting platform or visit cambridgetechpodcast.com.