Founding Antelope: Our Journey Here
Co-founders Andy and Miranda share their personal journeys to founding Antelope Health.
4 minutes read
Antelope Health co-founders Miranda and AndyRunning in Parallel
Long before Antelope Health existed, its co-founders were independently circling the same ambitions: to work on problems that mattered, to build something improbable, and to do it their way. After years of working together, founding Antelope — a company building intelligent health technology — became the next logical step.
This fortnight’s blog takes a slight detour, delving into what shaped them and what ultimately led them to start Antelope.
From Andy
I grew up in Forres, a small town in the north of Scotland, with my mum and my grandparents. I took after my Granny. In many of my childhood memories, she’s holding a soldering iron and fixing something that should probably have been unplugged first. As a result, I spent much of my childhood taking things apart — radios, toys, anything electric.
At university, I knew I wanted to do science, but little else. I started in parasitology, then discovered neuroscience and never looked back.
After a PhD and postdoc studying how neurons grow, I travelled to New York to interview for a position at Columbia University. Midway through my interview, a Nobel Prize–winning neuroscientist stood up, sighed very loudly, and walked out. I later learned this was not unusual. I got the job anyway.
In 2010, while presenting a poster at the Society for Neuroscience conference, I described a new way to map connections between neurons and pointed to a small brain region. This is how I first met Miranda who, as an expert in that region, told me, very directly, I had got the location wrong. This kicked off a collaboration that’s still going, ten years later.
In 2016, I returned to the UK as a faculty member at the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre. My lab focused on sensory and motor circuits, and much of our work involved inventing neurotechnologies to understand how the brain coordinates movement and balance. We engineered tools to map connections between neurons, manipulate their activity with precision, and measure how neural circuits adapt behaviour across different conditions. I am proud that many of the tools I built allow scientists in laboratories around the world to make new discoveries.
That work shaped how I think about science: not just discovering principles, but building technologies that make new questions possible. It eventually led me to found a biotechnology company, Sania Therapeutics. We developed genetic technologies that enable safer and more precise repair of dysfunctional neurons. The goal was to build a new type of medicine that could help treat several highly prevalent, underserved conditions. As CEO, I took the company from early concept through to a therapeutic programme progressing toward the clinic. I learned how to turn science into medicine, and that building things in the real world is as much about people as it is about ideas. But that’s a separate story.
From Miranda
I grew up in Vizag, a coastal town in India. My dad was a serial entrepreneur, my mum a teacher, and together with close friends they founded a school. Three decades later, it continues to grow from strength to strength.
Growing up, I had endless freedom to play. Rooftops in India are flat and ideal for games and sleeping under the stars. So when my family and I migrated to Australia when I was seven, I was shocked to discover that the rooftops were pointy. Luckily, I soon discovered the country’s strong sporting spirit. Backyard cricket, cul-de-sac games, and competitive sport all felt like home.
Sport taught me something early: talent isn’t enough. Success is built through grit, perseverance and discipline. This eventually shaped how I approached my work.
At university, I studied history and philosophy before focusing my PhD on neuroscience. History taught me how ideas evolve and institutions endure. Philosophy trained me to question assumptions and think critically about systems. My doctorate prepared me to synthesise a field and contribute new knowledge. My research centred on how neural circuits coordinate our sense of balance.
My path took me to Columbia University, where I worked with Andy for the first time, and later to University College London. During those years, I also travelled extensively on my own. Moving through different cultures and academic environments gave me perspective. It reinforced my instinct to think beyond a single discipline. I wanted to move the needle on real-world problems, where ever I could have the greatest impact.
When Andy founded a biotechnology company, it needed someone to build its systems from scratch. I couldn’t resist. I joined at the earliest stage, working across strategy, operations, and culture. I learned how to secure investment, how capital flows, how business and regulatory decisions shape science, and how to align research with real-world markets. The pace felt like competitive sports once again, and I soaked up as much as I could.
But like my parents, I wanted to use what I learned to build something enduring and impactful of my own. I cared deeply about underserved areas, about designing systems that include rather than exclude, and about creating a company where purpose shapes growth.
Converging Paths
Founding Antelope was exciting. Together, we had a unique combination of unbound curiosity, a long-standing partnership, and a drive to understand how things work. Our shared fascination with the nervous system and physiological signals eventually converged into a broader mission.
Six months in, our excitement has sharpened into focus. We’re creating technology to improve wellbeing and boost athletic performance. The same technology will also help address underserved medical needs, including improving how pain is understood and treated, in the future (more on this in a later blog post).
We’re intentionally designing our strategy and systems to establish a sustainable company capable of advancing data-driven health innovation. Our outlook is long-term.
The third of many
This blog series is our behind-the-scenes window into Antelope. We promise candour and honesty.
Perhaps something here resonates with you. Perhaps you have insights that could help shape what we’re building. Or perhaps you simply want to follow the journey of two founders working to create intelligent health technology designed to optimise performance, health, and wellbeing for every body.
Whatever brings you here, we are grateful to have you.
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