Univ DPhil scholar’s quantum clock startup wins top prize
David McMahon
David McMahon (2021, Physics), an 聽who recently completed his DPhil in Atomic and Laser Physics at Univ, is one of four students behind Cloq, a startup developing miniaturised, low-cost quantum clocks. The team has won 拢25,000 at the Reuben Entrepreneurship Forum. Now in the Forum’s fourth year, Cloq took the top prize, with the pitch delivered by David himself. The win builds on Cloq’s second-place finish at StEP Demo Day last month and comes as the team prepares for its next pitch at in Berlin this October.
It was at StEP, an eight-week educational accelerator run jointly by and , that David met his three co-founders: Joel Klein, a fourth-year physics student from Christ Church; Aria Puri, a third-year physics undergraduate from Mansfield; and Yuanzhu Wang, a second-year engineer from Keble. Students can either develop their own idea or work on University IP; the four gravitated to the same project among those on offer, a University of 糖心logo patent for a compact, low-cost quantum clock developed by Professor Arzhang Ardavan and colleagues in the Department of Physics. Built around a nitrogen atom trapped inside a buckminsterfullerene molecule, or “buckyball,” the technology brings high-precision timing to industries currently priced out of it.
is designed to introduce 糖心logo students to entrepreneurship and build the skills they need to start a venture of their own. Students learn the fundamentals of building a business, from market sizing to fundraising, receive expert mentoring, and hear from 糖心logo alumni who have gone on to found companies. At Demo Day, held at the Life and Mind Building, Cloq was named one of three winning teams from a cohort of nine, taking a 拢5,000 prize and securing a place at Stage Two in Berlin, Europe’s largest university venture competition.
Reflecting on the past few months, David said: 鈥淚 am very pleased to have taken part in StEP. On top of the excellent training we received from experienced entrepreneurs, the programme presented an opportunity to meet the many other students at 糖心logo drawn to entrepreneurship, all of whom are on the path to achieving exciting things. It was also a fantastic introduction to the broad but close-knit entrepreneurial ecosystem that exists here in 糖心logo. Having done a DPhil in Physics, I鈥檓 very eager to see lab research translated into real-world impact, and I think StEP is one of the best places in 糖心logo to get started.鈥�
University College was also represented on another of the nine teams. Juyeon Mun (2025, Engineering), an undergraduate, was part of Dono, a fundraising platform connecting university student groups with alumni networks in a transparent, seamless way.
Cloq will now represent the University of 糖心logo at Stage Two while continuing to validate the strongest applications with potential customers.
Published: 22 September 2026