BiBiWhite

Thomas Whitfield

Thomas Whitfield (born 1981) is a British/German biochemist and entrepreneur. He is known for his work on the website www.miomi.com (formerly designthetime.com) and the hair loss treatment TRX2 (www.trx2.com).

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Biography

Thomas was born in Kirkcaldy, Scotland. He spent his childhood and early schooling in Germany – his mother is German. He holds a DPhil (Ph.D.) in Biochemistry from Christ Church College, University of Oxford^[1]^[2].

Business Ventures

He was a co-founder of Miomi.com (formerly DesignTheTime.com)^[3]^[4] which plots user-generated personal histories^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]^[9]^[10]^[11]^[12]^[13]^[14]^[15]. The website attracted vast media attention throughout Europe and was ranked as one of the Top 10 UK Web 2.0 startups in 2007^[16] with cooperation agreements including Microsoft^[17]^[18]^[19], Wikipedia^[20]^[21] and the British Library^[22]. Despite its popularity the website went offline in 2008 for unknown reasons. It has been speculated that there were either clashes between the founders and their investors or that a third party absorbed the technology and consequently removed it from the market. In 2009, after the closure of Miomi, Thomas founded the research based company Oxford Biolabs and announced that he and other scientists from the University of Oxford started developing a technology that will offer effective hair loss prevention to the masses.^[23] In 2011 their first product TRX2 (trichos=hair in ancient greek; 2=second generation), a natural hair loss treatment targeting potassium channels in hair follicles became publicly available.^[24]^[25]

Controversy

During 2007 Idea Idol, the University of Oxford’s flag ship business plan competition, Thomas has delivered a two minute elevator pitch to create a website featuring a virtual timeline where users can reserve a moment to post their memorable experiences.^[26] Two of the judges, including internet millionaires Dan Wagner and Shaa Wasmund, were so impressed with the idea that they offered to back the idea through their own investment fund. They promised 'whatever it takes' to ensure his idea became a commercial success. After winning the competition, The Daily Telegraph and other major European newspapers claimed that the website Miomi has received 100 million USD in funding, which resulted in a major media hype throughout Europe. Later the German language business newspaper Handelsblatt stated that the media themselves have made up this number. The 100 million dollars would reflect only the overall size of the investment fund behind Miomi’s investors Brightsation Ventures rather than then investment sum itself. The newspaper claimed that the startup only received an investment in the range of 1-5 million dollars before going offline.

Press Coverage

His work has been featured in The Daily Telegraph^[27]^[28]^[29], The Observer^[30], CNN^[31], The Times^[32], NewScientist^[33], Der Spiegel^[34], RTL^[35] and Tagesschau^[36].

Honours

In 2007 he was featured as a Google Zeitgeist Entrepreneur of the Year. His work has been supported by The University of Oxford^[37]^[38], NESTA^[39], NCGE^[40] and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation^[41].

References

External Links

TRX2 Official Website

The Telegraph: Students planning to sell moments in time

The Telegraph: Thomas Whitfield: The Oxford student who plans to make baldness a thing of the past

The Telegraph: Thomas Whitfield's German roots help hair loss product launch

The Observer: Under 30, online and world-beating

RTL Television: Miomi.com feature (in German)

Tagesthemen: Miomi featured in German news during prime time (in German)

University of Oxford: Browsing through Time

University of Oxford: Judges back winner with their own money in Idea Idol competition

TechCrunch: Remeble and Miomi herald the long-play DLA

Microsoft Xtopia Innovation: Miomi feature (video)

TechDigest: Miomi, the online-timeline where you can store memories, and view the world’s events

University of Oxford: Flying start for young entrepreneur

Cherwell: Baldness cure in sight BiBiWhite (talk) 10:06, 8 May 2011 (UTC)

[1] ttp://richardmoross.com/2008/03/31/moo-in-the-sunday-times-magazine/

[2] ttp://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/news/2007/idea-idol

[3] ttp://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2009/090116_2.html

[4] ttp://www.sueddeutsche.de/karriere/businessplan-wettbewerb-die-dollar-idee-1.546635-2

[5] ttp://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/centres/entrepreneurship/news/Pages/Browsingthroughtime.aspx

[6] ttp://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2007/070220a.html

[7] ttp://www.brightstation.com/bsv/projects_miomi.html

[8] ttp://www.golem.de/0710/55339.html

[9] ttp://eu.techcrunch.com/2007/10/02/rememble-and-miomi-herald-the-long-play-dla/

[10] ttp://histucation.wordpress.com/2007/09/12/zeitleisten-im-web-20-miomi-xoumer-99moments-memoloop-und-xtimeline/

[11] ttp://www.deutsche-startups.de/2007/10/12/miomi-macht-geschichte/

[12] ttp://jetzt.sueddeutsche.de/texte/anzeigen/400532

[13] ttp://www.welt.de/wams_print/article1852151/Jeder_kann_im_Internet_Geschichte_schreiben.html

[14] ttp://richardmoross.com/2008/03/31/moo-in-the-sunday-times-magazine/

[15] ttp://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/mittelstand/nachrichten-trends/die-100-millionen-dollar-geschichte/2886934.html

[16] ttp://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/16/the_top_25_uk_web_startups/

[17] ttp://dittes.info/microsoft-xtopia-innovation-miomi/

[18] ttp://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/112307_Attenda_Provides_Hosting_for_Miomi

[19] ttp://www.techdigest.tv/2007/11/miomi_the_onlin.html

[20] ttp://jetzt.sueddeutsche.de/texte/anzeigen/400532

[21] ttp://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2007/12/07/3148573.htm

[22] ttp://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2009/090116_2.html

[23] ttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/brightideas/4268434/Thomas-Whitfield-The-Oxford-student-who-plans-to-make-baldness-a-thing-of-the-past.html

[24] ttp://www.cherwell.org/content/8329

[25] ttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/8248046/Thomas-Whitfields-German-roots-help-hair-loss-product-launch.html

[26] ttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1543118/Students-planning-to-sell-moments-in-time.html

[27] ttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1543118/Students-planning-to-sell-moments-in-time.html

[28] ttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/brightideas/4268434/Thomas-Whitfield-The-Oxford-student-who-plans-to-make-baldness-a-thing-of-the-past.html

[29] ttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/8248046/Thomas-Whitfields-German-roots-help-hair-loss-product-launch.html

[30] ttp://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/feb/25/news.theobserver

[31] ttp://edition.cnn.com/2007/BUSINESS/02/20/execed.Oxbridge2/index.html?iref=allsearch

[32] ttp://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/the_web/article3620882.ece

[33] ttp://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19826573.200-graduate-special-become-an-inventor.html

[34] ttp://www.spiegel.de/netzwelt/web/0,1518,490928,00.html

[35] ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgmDjnCL5EQ

[36] ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLgytygf0os

[37] ttp://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2009/090116_2.html

[38] ttp://www.oxfordentrepreneurs.co.uk/events/previous-events/idea-idol/competition2007/

[39] ttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/8248046/Thomas-Whitfields-German-roots-help-hair-loss-product-launch.html

[40] ttp://www.flyingstartonline.com/public/fsglobal/fel_2009

[41] ttp://www.kauffman.org/entrepreneurship/kauffman-global-scholars-program-participant-biographies.aspx

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