Dr. Leonardo Santoni is Co-Founder and CTO of HexSeed Technology, a UK deep-tech startup pioneering low-temperature diamond coating technology to solve thermal management challenges in AI-era semiconductors.

Dr. Santoni earned his PhD in Chemistry from University College London (UCL), specialising in metal-organic deposition and advanced materials science, and went on to serve as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Advanced Membrane Nanotechnology Design at UCL.

With expertise spanning inorganic chemistry, air-sensitive synthesis, and materials characterisation, Dr. Santoni also earned the Rothwell Prize and built a science communication platform reaching over 100,000 people weekly.

Prior to co-founding HexSeed, Dr. Santoni worked as a technical consultant at EpiValence Limited and taught and trained over 15,000 students across disciplines at UCL, bridging academic research and industry application.

HexSeed has raised over £600,000 in early-stage funding led by Carbon13, with the investment unlocking a Partnership Grant from Innovate UK, positioning the company at the forefront of sustainable semiconductor cooling for AI data centres.