Alumnus wins Santander X Launch Award for Kitt Medical

Zak Marks (Industrial Design and Technology, 2020) was recognised for his healthtech start up ‘a defibrillator for allergies’, which he began shaping while studying at Loughborough, at the Santander X Awards last week.

Zak and Kitt Medical co-founder James Cohen presented their product in three different pitches. At the end of two-day process, they walked away with the Santander X Launch award as well as £15,000 equity free funding for their start up.  

The alumnus came up with the idea of Kitt Medical (formerly known as ana) in his final year at Loughborough, where he also engaged with the Loughborough Enterprise Network and LU Inc. The product was born out of Zak’s personal experience of being a severe allergy sufferer. The emergency anaphylaxis treatment kit and medical training and incident reporting service are aimed at making adrenaline treatment more accessible in public spaces such as schools and reducing the fear and risk of fatalities due to allergies. 

Kitt have engaged with the Loughborough Enterprise Network and LU Inc. along their business journey.

Anaphylaxis can be fatal within 10 minutes and Zak’s intention is to make quick-to-access kits that can be displayed in public areas. They will be securely designed to ensure they are childproof and safe in school environments 

20% of severe allergic reactions at school occur in children with no previous history of allergies. This means that one in five children may experience unexpected anaphylaxis with no access to treatment. Zak’s invention aims to combat this by encouraging schools to provide treatment kits to ensure accessibility for everyone.  

Kitt Medical’s win at the Santander X Launch Award secures the startup entry into Santander X Global Awards programmeIn the global scheme, they will gain further opportunities to pitch their solutions and secure funding to launch Kitt Medical nationwide.  

Find out more about Kitt Medical.