The winners have been announced for the Santander X UK Awards 2024, at a national final event at Unity Place in Milton Keynes. The winning businesses are Even and Soil Benchmark Ltd.听
The 12 finalists pitched to a panel of high-profile judges, including Gary Neville, Dame Jess Ennis-Hill, Dragon鈥檚 Den star Sam Jones, and former Head of Social at Gymshark, Elfried Samba, alongside Santander鈥檚 CEO, Mike Regnier on 14 November.听
Santander has been running an annual entrepreneurship competition for 14 years and in this time has provided more than 拢1 million in equity-free funding鈥痶o thousands of UK start-ups and small businesses.听
Santander announced the winners of the Santander X UK Awards 2024 at a national final event held in Unity Place, the bank鈥檚 headquarters in Milton Keynes, on 14th November.听听
The six winners, who were selected from 12 finalists who pitched in front of panels of high-profile judges at the event, are:听
University category听
1st place, 拢15,000: Even | Sarah Bailey, Anushka Mahesh & Aurusha Kharas | University of Bristol 触鈥疪adical, low-cost period underwear for the humanitarian sector and low-income communities. More information: 听听听
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2nd place, 拢10,000: iNatural | Abhishek Gupta | University of Wolverhampton鈥モiNatural Ltd is a biotech start-up developing advanced hydrogel as dressings that leverage natural biomaterials to promote wound healing. More information:鈥听听
3rd place, 拢5,000: Sealeo | Diana Epel and Emanuele Griccioli | Imperial College London鈥モSealeo ensures the delivery of life-saving medicine with innovative, affordable, and biodegradable packaging. More information:鈥听
Startup category听
1st place, 拢25,000: Soil Benchmark | Tom Scrope鈥モSoil Benchmark helps farms improve soil health by creating AI-driven Soil Management Plans, now serving 1300+ farms covering 4% of England. More information: 听
2nd place, 拢15,000: Innerworks | Oliver Quie鈥モ疘nnerworks prevents fraud and improves trust online with intelligent bot detection and user authentication.听 More information: 听
3rd place, 拢10,000: Luna | Jo Goodall 触鈥The World鈥檚 first digital health and wellbeing companion for tweens/teens. More information: 听
The six winners also go forward to represent the UK in the Santander X Global Awards, Santander鈥檚 international entrepreneurship competition.听听
Tom Scrope, founder of Soil Benchmark, said: 鈥淲e have a product, we know it works - we just need to get the word out and more farmers using it, so any publicity we can get is invaluable. I鈥檓 not going to pretend that standing up in front of Gary Neville and Jess Ennis-Hill wasn鈥檛 nerve-wracking, but what a brilliant experience. The Santander X UK Awards is a very high-profile competition for start-ups and we鈥檙e so grateful and proud to have won it.鈥听
Mike Regnier, Santander UK CEO, said: 鈥淚 thoroughly look forward to judging at the Santander X Awards each year. Start-ups play a vital role in stimulating growth and innovation in the UK economy, but they face many challenges. The X Awards are just one way we鈥檙e helping the country鈥檚 most exciting new entrepreneurs to overcome these challenges through vital funding, skill-building, and fostering connections along the way. A huge congratulations to this year鈥檚 six winners 鈥 I look forward to watching your businesses grow.鈥听听听
The Awards鈥痟ave long been regarded as one of the鈥疷K鈥檚 largest university and early-stage business pitching competitions. To date, they have supported thousands of early-stage entrepreneurs and provided鈥痬ore than 拢1 million in equity-free funding鈥痶o start-ups and small businesses.听听
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Notes to editors听
The six winners are available for interview. Please register interest with the media contacts below.听
More about the Santander X UK Awards:鈥听听
More about the Santander X Global Award:鈥听听