CEES Enterprise Ambasssador - James Gupta

James Gupta, Co-Founder and CEO of Synap was a Medical student at the University of Leeds. He and fellow student, Omair Vaiyani, designed an app to make revision for exams fun, interactive and impactful. Together they formed Synap, an award-winning start-up based in Leeds, but with clients all over the world, now employing 13 members of staff. It was also named as one of the ‘Top 10 British AI companies to Watch’ by Business Insider.   

The incubator space was a crucial part of our plan to take our business ‘to the next level’. 

Whilst studying at Leeds, James had the opportunity to take part in the CEES social enterprise module for medical students and had access to the business advice and mentorship available at Spark.  He also had access to office space in the university’s business incubator.   

"Synap started as a cool project we developed in our bedrooms.  When it started to get popular we knew it could be something much more but had a number of hurdles to overcome before it could achieve its potential.  Having access to the incubator was great for us, both internally as somewhere to work without distractions, and externally - putting a more professional face on the company when bringing different agencies and clients in for meetings.”   

In 2020 we were delighted to welcome James back as an Enterprise Ambassador.  In this role, James has mentored students, given advice to Spark students, provided a masterclass on app development to MSc students and spoken at our Q&A Enterprise Panel about his experiences leading the growth of Synap.