Carlos Valverde Hernandez and Nicholas Raptakis, co-founders of SMRTmeds

What is your background? What made you decide to become an entrepreneur?

We are Carlos Valverde and Nicholas Raptakis, Master's students at Hertford College Oxford and co-founders of SMRTmeds. After completing our Bachelor's degrees at the Karolinska Institutet and the University of Warwick, we both joined the University of Oxford to start the Master's of Science in Integrated Immunology and Pharmacology, respectively. We met at Hertford College and our drive for entrepreneurship led us to the amazing collection of extra-curricular courses organised by EnSpire. Eventually, we decided to get our hands dirty and start our own venture: with SMRTmeds, we are transforming the way vaccines are delivered today, leveraging AI to optimize vaccination management across the world.

We both have a diverse range of experiences that made us who we are right now. Carlos was brought up in Spain and at the age of 17 moved to an international school in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the United World College in Mostar. This experience opened his world and challenged his ideas, setting him up for studying Biomedical Sciences at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. He is currently finishing his MSc in Integrated Immunology at the University of Oxford. On the other hand, Nicholas was brought up in between Greece, Italy and the United Kingdom. He went to school in Oxfordshire and studied Biochemistry at the University of Warwick. Currently, he is finishing his MSc in Pharmacology at Oxford. We noticed that there is a lot of cutting edge research that remains just that - publications to be forgotten. Our goal as entrepreneurs is to accelerate the rate of scientific translation from bench to clinic by bringing scientific innovation to the world, to make a significant impact on millions of people’s lives through healthcare.

What is your definition of entrepreneurship? 

Entrepreneurship for us is translating ideas into actions. We believe that everyone is a changemaker in some manner and that it only takes an idea to start a venture. Entrepreneurship is what has driven the world to be where it is right now, and today’s technology would not be the same without entrepreneurs striving to share discoveries with the world.

How and when did you know your idea was good enough to develop it?

Despite the fact that vaccines remain the most effective and affordable public health intervention, we identified a significant problem: the outdated one-size-fits-all model by which vaccines are delivered today. Next, we spoke to healthcare professionals, academic researchers and faculty experts in vaccination to validate the problem. We found that vaccination management today leads to inefficient dosing of the population: some people are being over-vaccinated and some under-vaccinated, which may also cause ineffective protection to those who need it the most, including the elderly or immunocompromised individuals. By predicting how you would respond to a vaccine and when you actually require a booster (if you need it at all), SMRTmeds will change the way vaccines are delivered, further reducing the public healthcare burden and making sure everyone is protected from a vaccine-preventable disease, while also fighting against growing vaccine scepticism with real time, visible, personal data on how a vaccine is working.

What would you say are the top 3 skills that needed to be a successful entrepreneur? Why?

Our values are reflected on the top 3 skills we believe are needed in every entrepreneur. Firstly, curiosity is a critical skill as you need to be driven by the unknown. Essentially, you cannot invent anything that has already been invented, but you may be able to identify a better way to use an invention or discover a way to add new value. Secondly, we believe that being creative is key. Being able to think out of the box to solve a problem is a skill that we believe comes with practice. Lastly, perseverance is a skill that every successful entrepreneur has. It is very easy to give up; in fact, most times success is just around the corner but we don't realise until it is too late and we give up. As it is said: "Rome wasn't built in a day".

What is your favourite part of being an entrepreneur?

Our favourite part of being entrepreneurs is the excitement of seeing how we are improving people's lives. Entrepreneurship is a constant learning experience and the people in our environment are our engine. Being an entrepreneur is learning at an exponential pace, learning by experience - something that is not in the textbooks. Of course, failing makes us learn and improve as individuals and as a start-up. And finally, we love connecting with people, having tons of interesting conversations and finding out all the different perspectives people have on our ideas.

What individual, company or organisation inspires you most? Why?

We are very inspired by the Oxford biotech scene that were once at our stage and today are consolidated in the market while pioneering scientific translation and innovation. To name a few, Oxford Nanopore, Oxford BioMedica, Immunocore or Adaptimmune, the latter two touching on the field of immunology - a growing branch of biomedicine using the knowledge of the immune system for developing the most advanced therapeutics available today.

If you had 5 minutes with the above individual/ company/organization, what would you want to ask or discuss?

We would definitely ask about their innovation strategies and the opportunities to collaborate. We strongly believe our technology will be highly compatible with their ongoing projects as predicting how the immune system will respond to a vaccine (and potential in the long run any disease or therapeutic) could be crucial for the development of therapeutics and new technologies.

What has been your most satisfying or successful moment in business?

Together, we have lived some successful and not so successful moments which have helped us learn and get the traction to be where we are today. So far, the most successful moment for SMRTmeds was after winning the #StartedinOxford showcase 2025 with over 250 attendees and all kinds of members of the Oxford university innovation ecosystem supporting us in our goal to change the way vaccines are managed today.  

What would you say have been some of your mistakes, failures or lessons learned as an entrepreneur?

We have failed in many ways and multiple times. At the beginning, we did not make clear what the problem, solution and the customer were - basic concepts that are needed to build the basis of a successful venture. We learned this from our first public pitching at the Oxford Biotech Society x StEP Ignite Demo day, and thought more deeply about the problem thereafter. Furthermore, we have been turned down by several investors both in the UK and the US, which has been a super helpful part of the learning process, as the questions we received from such conversations made us grow and further develop our idea. Indeed, we are glad that we did not "sell" our idea too early, before truly understanding the potential and way forward for our venture. Remaining fully independent and continuing to grow fast and testing our business hypothesis, we still have much to learn.

How have you funded your ideas?

As an early stage company, we have not yet required large amounts of funding, working from our personal computers and holding meetings in cafès. To date, we have focused on acquiring a good group of mentors who have advised us smartly and validated the scientific, business and technical needs of our venture. However, we have relied on grants and pitch competition prizes for administrative costs (£500 from All-Innovate and £1000 from #StartedinOxford 2025).

Are there any sector-specific awards/grants/competitions that have helped you?

Since we have been validating our value and business hypotheses and setting the basis of our venture, we did not seek sector-specific funding yet. Thus, being in the pre-seed stage allowed us to grow immensely and set a strong foundation to seek our first funding series in the upcoming months. So far, we have won two competitions as part of EnSpire Oxford. We won the All Innovate competition and recently the #StartedinOxford showcase, both being crucial for our future development. 

What is good about being an entrepreneur in Oxfordshire? Bad?

Being an entrepreneur in Oxfordshire is a privilege – here, there is a vibrant ecosystem of students, alumni and academics alike seeking translation of their ideas into applications, and the university is strongly connected to it. We had the opportunity to join all kinds of events and meet engaging entrepreneurs, and we have found that it is a high-pace environment where start-ups are encouraged to grow and take an active part in the community. 

If a new entrepreneur or startup came to you looking for entrepreneurship resources, where would you send them?

The EnSpire website would be a good place to start! There, one can find many opportunities for start-ups at all stages. We would especially recommend them to start attending entrepreneurship events and to focus on building their network, to find likeminded people from different backgrounds. Beyond that, we would recommend reaching out to as many people as possible and getting valuable mentorship. When it comes to books, The Lean Startup is a must read. You won’t know if entrepreneurship is your thing until you go out and have a go. Finally, there are also incredible societies that are part of the University of Oxford that any student can join!

Any last words of advice?

Don’t be afraid to start something. Entrepreneurship is a way to make a big difference and we have found that there is no lack of ideas. Begin by spending a week writing down all the things you notice that piss you off. Now look on a global scale - each of these problems has a solution. We are really happy to chat about it. So please reach out and join the AI-powered vaccine management revolution!

Are there any Business or Entrepreneurship Related Courses that you would recommend?

Our shared passion for innovation and bio-entrepreneurship brought us together to take part in all kinds of events from the Oxford innovation ecosystem. We started by attending Building a Business talks in Michaelmas term, and then joined All-Innovate, the idea competition organised by EnSpire, where we learned to identify problems, to build a business plan, and above all, to love the process rather than the idea. We ended up All-Innovate winners and decided to apply for further pitching competitions such as the Oxford Biotechnology Society x StEP Ignite programme, EnSpired Founders, and most recently, the recent #StartedinOxford Showcase event with around 250 attendees. From these, we have received great support from 5 expert venture supporters and were selected winners of the 2025 #StartedinOxford Showcase.

Keep up to date with SMRTmeds

Keep up to date with SMRTmeds via their website, LinkedIn and Instagram.