From Science to Market: Nanosene Joins BRAIN 5.0
The Running Start(up)
Nanosene was selected as one of ten DeepTech startups from across Africa to join BRAIN 5.0, Open Startup’s Pan-African accelerator programme supporting science-led ventures on their journey from research to market.
The programme kicked off with an intensive bootcamp in Cape Town and Stellenbosch in February 2026, bringing together founders, mentors, investors and experts for a week of workshops, mentorship, business development and pitch preparation.
For Nanosene, it was an opportunity to step outside the laboratory and look at the company from a different perspective: how clearly we communicate the problem we are solving, where our technology creates value, and what it will take to build a scalable, market- and investment-ready biotechnology company.
Dr. Elaine Barnard & Dr. Gestél Kuyler representing Nanosene at OST’s 2026 bootcamp
Open Startup and BRAIN
Open Startup (OST) is a nonprofit organisation supporting entrepreneurship, science and technology across Africa. Through its programmes and international network, OST connects African founders, researchers and innovators with mentors, investors, industry experts and innovation ecosystems across Africa and beyond.
Within its DeepTech portfolio, BRAIN (Bridging Research and Innovation) is a Pan-African initiative designed to strengthen the foundations of DeepTech across the continent and support high-potential, science-led ventures.
The BRAIN Accelerator is a 12-month programme for seed-stage DeepTech startups, providing tailored mentorship, strategic connections and practical support to help companies strengthen their market and investment readiness.
Nanosene joined the BRAIN 5.0 cohort alongside nine other science-led ventures selected from across Africa.
A Week of Building
The bootcamp brought the ten participating startups together with an international group of mentors and experts, including investors, ecosystem leaders and MIT Sloan Executive MBA participants.
Over several intensive days, founders were challenged to interrogate their business models, refine their value propositions and communicate more clearly with potential customers, partners and investors.
Feedback was direct, assumptions were challenged, and ideas were repeatedly tested and refined.
For Nanosene, a company built on years of academic polymer research, this process is an important part of translating strong science into a sustainable commercial business. Developing the technology is only one part of that journey. Understanding the market, communicating its value and building the right commercial strategy around it are equally important.
Dr. Gestél Kuyler delivers Nanosene’s pitch to a room of OST advisors, mentors and fellow startup founders.
Learning Beyond the Laboratory
Some of the most valuable parts of the week extended beyond the formal workshops and pitch sessions.
Working alongside founders developing very different technologies highlighted how many of the challenges associated with building science-led companies are shared. Conversations ranged from fundraising and market entry to manufacturing, team development and the practical realities of moving technologies from proof of concept towards commercial application.
The experience reinforced something particularly relevant to Nanosene: scientific innovation does not happen in isolation.
Strong science provides the foundation, but translating research into useful products also depends on the people, partnerships, networks and commercial capabilities built around it.
The relationships formed during BRAIN therefore became an important part of the experience, not simply as a professional network, but as a community of founders, mentors and experts working through many of the same challenges involved in bringing African science and technology to market.
Pitching at SWEAT Africa
The bootcamp concluded at SWEAT Africa 2026, a two-day gathering held at the Bertha Retreat outside Stellenbosch that brought together founders, researchers, and investors from across the continent and beyond. Nanosene, represented by co-founders Dr Gestél Kuyler (CEO) and Dr Elaine Barnard (COO), was selected to open the startup pitch segment on stage.
Hours of discussion, feedback and refinement ultimately came down to five minutes on stage, an opportunity to put the work of the preceding week into practice and communicate where Nanosene is going next.
Going Forward
For Nanosene, participation forms part of a much longer transition: taking technology developed through academic research, demonstrating its value in real-world applications and building the commercial foundations needed to bring it to researchers and industry at scale.
BRAIN 5.0 provided an opportunity to challenge our thinking, sharpen our message and learn from people building and supporting science-led companies across the continent.
The BRAIN 5.0 founders, mentors, experts and OST team during the bootcamp.
Thank you to the Open Startup and BRAIN teams, mentors, experts and fellow founders for the thoughtful feedback, challenging conversations and connections that made the week so valuable.