ABOUT CFFN
A New Model for Backing Founders in Cambridge
CFFN is building a new kind of founder support in Cambridge, one of the world's most enduring innovation ecosystems. We're proving that when founders, investors, operators, and institutions work together instead of in silos, startup founders get the support, capital, and connections they need to scale.
OUR MISSION
To Create a Connective Layer around Women Building Companies in Cambridge
Practical support, meaningful relationships, and clearer routes into opportunity, designed around what founders actually need.
What this means in Practice
01
Founder-first Support
Programmes and tables shaped by real founder needs.
02
Ecosystem Connectivity
Founders, friends, capital, operators and institutions working together instead of in silos.
03
Evidence-led Model
Data & insights feed back into programming and 1:1 connective support.
Why Cambridge?
Cambridge is one of the world’s most enduring innovation engines, home to over 5,000 knowledge-intensive companies, £2.3B raised in 2024, and a seed-to-Series A conversion rate that surpasses the Bay Area.
That density of talent, capital and institutions makes Cambridge the ideal testbed to build, pressure-test and prove a better model for backing women founders.
OUR MISSION
How CFFN Works
CFFN is built by founders, for founders, an agile connective layer that activates the space between existing programmes, institutions and capital across and into Cambridge. We have 4 key pillars that underpin our work:
Founder Support Pillars
Practical support organised around the areas founders need most: community, commercial growth, funding, leadership and safeguarding.
Data & Insights
Evidence-based programming shaped by what founders need. We gather insights from our community to refine our model and ensure our support evolves with the ecosystem.
Community Connection
Curated peer spaces, founder circles and working sessions that help founders build trusted relationships, share experience and find the right support at the right moment.
What does it mean to be founder-led?
​Proximity to the problem
​Led by founders actively raising, scaling, and navigating the same terrain as our members
​Iterative
Every initiative is a prototype, tested in real time against founder-defined measures of value.
​Emergent design
To build a novel model for founder support, we dive beneath the surface to uncover real needs, to enable founder-informed solutions to emerge.
Our People
CFFN is powered by people who have built their lives around the startup and scaleup ecosystem—founders, investors, operators, and advisors who put founders first. From our team on the ground to our board shaping long-term vision, everyone here is committed to creating tables where we grow and thrive together.
Team
Our team are the people on the ground making sure the day-to-day critical parts of CFFN run smoothly. From operations to community organising, event planning and partnerships, with backgrounds as founders, in tech, in community building and operations, this team ensures founders remain at the heart of everything we build.
Xann Schwinn
Director & CEO
Tabitha Tojiero
Events & Content Coordinator
Tamudaishe Siringwani
Tech Steward
Tom Parker
Strategy Advisor, Commercial & Ops
Richard Harmon
Lead Software & Infrastructure Engineer
Board
Our Board share a strong commitment to our mission and apply their backgrounds in entrepreneurship, technology, and ecosystem building to power the future vision of the organisation, ensuring we represent all key aspects of what's needed to grow.
David Cleevely CBE
Director & Chair
Pam Garside
Board Member
James Thomas
Director & Catalyst
Xann Schwinn
Director & CEO
Matthew Cleevely
Board Member & Catalyst
Fellows
We're guided by our Fellows who have deep expertise across critical aspects of the CFFN community, providing guidance for our organisation and our founders with a deep commitment to our work and without a fear of rolling their sleeves up to make the change we want to see happen.
FOUNDERS​
Aylin Abdullah
Fellow & Founder
Managing Partner,
Innovo HR
Eleanor Whitelegg
Fellow & Founder
Founder,
Praeduco
Elizabeth Marston
Fellow & Founder
Founder & CEO,
Sotera
Dr. Irina Babina
Fellow & Founder
CEO,
Concr
Dr. Jenny Barnett
Fellow & Founder
CEO,
Monument Therapeutics
FRIENDS
Matthew Cleevely
Fellow & Catalyst
Cambridge Angel, Exited Founder
Carrie Baptist
Fellow & Catalyst
Chief Strategy Officer,
Conception X
Simon Thorpe
Fellow & Catalyst
Cambridge Angel, NED Albion VC, MP Delta2020
Members
The heart of CFFN. These are the female founders building ambitious companies across Cambridge from pre-seed to scale-up, spanning life sciences, green tech, deep tech and beyond. They show up, support each other, and prove that often the best founder support we can get comes from our fellow founder.
.jpeg)
Maya Gavin
Co-Founder & CEO, Asothia
Jacqui Gilbert
Co-Founder, ParrotPal Group
Lluna Gallego
Co-Founder & CEO, Vector BioScience
Dr. Zahra Jawad
CEO & Founder,
CREASALLIS
Sol Escobar
Founder & CEO,
Give Your Best
Dr. Irina Babina
CEO,
Concr
Dr. Jenny Barnett
CEO,
Monument Therapeutics
Chantal Epp
Founder & CEO,
ClicknClear
Kellyann Ripnar
Co-Founder,
FinCrime Dynamics
Dr. Tara Love
CTO & Co-Founder,
NANOPLUME
Partners
We're grateful to work with partners and communities who share our commitment to supporting female founders in Cambridge: from legal and financial services to fellow founder networks and community spaces. These collaborations enable us to deliver better programming, create more opportunities, and build infrastructure for our founders that lasts.
Strategic Partners
Impact Partners
Community Partners
