Atherton Award

Sixth Form student Mira has won an award to recognise entrepreneurial spirit in a STEM discipline.

The Atherton Awards were set up in 2019 by serial entrepreneur Amber Atherton, whose Y Combinator-backed start-up was acquired by Discord; she is a partner at Patron VC, whose investment portfolio includes Tiktok, Strava, YouTube, Roblox, Duolingo, Ebay and Fitbit. Twenty pupils from South Hampstead entered this year’s Atherton Awards, with ideas as diverse as engineering bioplastics and compostable jewelry.

Mira’s winning idea, an online learning tool called YouSummarise, scooped her and a co-founder a £500 contribution towards the next stage of their entrepreneurial journey and the opportunity to have a day’s mentoring with a tech entrepreneur. Amber praised the project’s ambition and vision: “Mira clearly articulated how she would use the startup funding to take her idea to the next level and what obstacles she overcame along the way.” 

Congratulating all the students on their entries, Amber added: “South Hampstead girls have entrepreneurial spirit in bucket loads and I can’t wait to watch, and maybe one day invest, in the incredible businesses you might build!”